The Dating Game
by PerrythePlatypusGirl
Summary: Hiro loves GoGo. The only problem? She's way older than him! In an attempt to get his mind off of his impossible crush, Hiro decides he wants to try dating some girls his own age. But dating can be a dicey game-is Hiro ready to play? Vaniro, Hirolet, Margiro, Penniro, Hiriley, Tiiro, and Hirogo-which ship will win? COMPLETE!
1. PRESS START

PRESS START

Hiro always told himself that romance wasn't for him. He was way too busy for it, he had his schoolwork and projects to work on. He didn't care for all that mushy, affectionate stuff. He didn't have time to date. Heck, he didn't even have any girls that he was all that interested in.

And then he would remember that GoGo Tomago exists, and all of that would go down the drain.

But it didn't matter, he always told himself. Just cause he thought she was cool, didn't mean he wanted to date her, right? And besides...she was older than him! It would never happen! All he had to do was remind himself of that, and he'd never have to worry.

But then she would grin at him, give him a compliment or a sarcastic quip, and all of that would go down the drain.

There were times when he'd come home after hanging out with the gang for a while, and it felt like he was walking on air. For a good five minutes after he spoke to her, the world around him seemed to disappear, and he'd actually wonder what it would be like to be with someone like her. But then Reality would show up and slap him in the face once more, leaving him frustrated.

Tadashi and Aunt Cass, of course, knew about his crush, due to Baymax basically announcing it to them every time he was in a daze. But even then, Hiro didn't think they knew just how _bad_ he had it. And to be honest, he didn't want them to know. He hated feeling this way. It distracted him from important stuff. It turned him into an emotional mess. And worst of all, it made him delusional. Why did GoGo have to be so much older than him? Why couldn't he have fallen for someone his own age...?

"Hellooooo?" Tadashi's voice suddenly called out, snapping Hiro out of his thoughts. The boy slowly lifted his head to glare at his brother, but Tadashi simply grinned back, unfazed. "Earth to Hiro? What are you doing, little bro?"

Hiro rubbed his head with a sigh, then turned back to his work. "Sorry," he murmured. "I was just thinking. "

"About what?"

"...stuff..."

Baymax, who was often active to help out around the house, waddled over to the two boys, scanning Hiro up and down as he went. "Hiro's dopamine levels are high," the robot announced. "It's possible that his thoughts are occupied by something or someone that he has affection for."

"Oooooh," Tadashi replied, his grin getting wider.

Hiro turned red, and he quickly sat up to glare at Baymax. "Hey!" he snapped. "Baymax, I told you: you can't just go around telling people about my dopamine levels!"

"I apologize," Baymax replied earnestly. "I did not mean to cause you any embarrassment."

"Don't worry about it, Baymax," Tadashi piped up, sitting down next to his brother. "It's just me."

Hiro looked away from both of them, though he was totally aware of Tadashi smirking at the side of his face.

"You sure think about her a lot, don't you?" Tadashi finally asked.

Hiro blushed even more. "Sure, every now and then," he muttered.

Tadashi chuckled in amusement. "You've really got it bad, huh?"

"Y-yeah, well...whatddya want me to do, huh?" Hiro asked in exasperation. "It's killing me! And the worst part is, it just won't go away!"

"That's what love does," Tadashi replied fondly. "It tortures you and tears you apart inside, but then when you finally get together with the one you like, it's the best thing in the world."

"Easy for you to say," Hiro groaned. " _I_ can't get together with GoGo. She's like four years older than me."

Tadashi looked at Hiro for a moment, but shrugged. "Hey, don't worry about it," he said. "You're still young...maybe you'll end up falling for someone else later, someone your own age."

Hiro stared at the screens ahead of him, mulling this over. "But like...I don't really know anyone my age," he mused. "Maybe if I actually hung out with some younger people, I'd be able to forget about her..."

Tadashi raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Like, dating younger girls to get your mind off GoGo?"

Hiro turned to his brother in surprise, but frowned in consideration. "Dating? Would that work?"

"I dunno," Tadashi replied. "Do you really think you'd wanna start?"

"Hiro is on the cusp of adolescence," Baymax piped up again. "According to my databases, it is normal for young teenagers to start dating around this time."

"Thank you Baymax," Hiro sighed. "I'm satisfied with my care."

The fluffy robot took his cue and started waddling over to his charging station. Hiro, meanwhile, played with the thought a little more. "I don't know, Tadashi..."

Tadashi shrugged. "Hey, nobody's forcing you, it's just a suggestion. Dating can be kind of a slippery slope, Hiro. You can get your heart broken, or you could have fun and find someone you genuinely like."

Hiro frowned. "Um...maybe not. I don't think I have time for a girlfriend."

"That's fine too." Tadashi stood up to get back to whatever he was doing, but patted Hiro on the shoulder as he went. "Either way, don't worry too much about GoGo, okay? You'll figure things out."

"I hope so." Hiro leaned on his hands as Tadashi left the room, trying to get back to the work he was currently doing. He pushed the whole conversation to the back of his mind for now, but something deep down inside him was thinking that maybe Tadashi's idea just might work.


	2. ROUND 1: VANELLOPE

ROUND 1: VANELLOPE

The dinner rush at the Lucky Cat Cafe was in full swing that evening. Hiro was still a bit tired from several hours of homework beforehand, but it was fine. If it wasn't for his and Tadashi's help, Aunt Cass would never survive the dinner rush.

"Hey, where's Aunt Cass?" the boy asked as he spotted his brother by the main desk.

Tadashi looked up from whatever he was doing and gestured with his head toward a table. "Chatting it up with a customer, I guess-hey, can you take these to table three for me? Thanks."

Hiro groaned and took the plates from Tadashi's hands. "Again? Why does Aunt Cass always get distracted talking to customers?"

"It's good for business. Now put a smile on your face before people think we're only staffed by a bunch of angsty teenagers."

Hiro scoffed but did as Tadashi told him as he politely served the waiting customers. As he walked back, however, he passed by the table that Aunt Cass was standing at, and something caught his ear.

"...you remember my little cousin, right? I brought her here with me just last week," a male voice was saying.

"Yeah, I think I remember her," Aunt Cass replied. "And you say she _likes_ Hiro? How adorable!"

Hiro stopped dead in his tracks at this, and turned around slowly. Aunt Cass was talking to one of her regulars, a tiny young man named Felix, and both of them were grinning from ear to ear as they discussed the topic.

"Yep, she sure took a shine to him when she saw him here," Felix chuckled. "Been begging me to bring her back just so she could see him again. Heck, we've actually been planning her birthday party recently, and she's been adamant about inviting you all."

"Oh my goodness, really? How sweet!"

"I guess you could call it that, but with Vanellope, it's more like a demand-' _I want the boy from the cafe! We should invite the boy from the cafe!'"  
_  
Aunt Cass laughed again. "Wow. I guess I'll have to run it by Hiro, then, and see how he feels about this..."

They continued to talk, but by that point Hiro had escaped from the area and practically ran over to Tadashi.

"Whoa!" Tadashi said when he saw his brother barreling over to him. "What's the matter, Hiro? You look pretty freaked out."

"Uh..." Hiro replied. "Apparently a relative of a customer has a crush on me."

Tadashi took a moment to stare at him, then suddenly burst out laughing. "Wh-what? What are you talking about? Who?"

"I don't even know-you know that regular, Felix? The short one with the blue hat? The one Aunt Cass is talking to."

"Yeah."

"His little cousin likes me, apparently. And now she wants me to come to her birthday party."

Tadashi just snickered.

"Dude, don't laugh!" Hiro snapped. "What do I do?"

"Well, I don't know what you're so freaked out about," Tadashi replied. "Weren't you literally just talking about dating some girls your own age?"

"That's _exactly_ why I'm freaked out."

Tadashi grinned at his little brother and shrugged. "Well, hey, if she's inviting you, you can totally go. Maybe you'll like her. And heck, even if you don't like the girl, you'll at least get free cake, right?"

Hiro sighed. "I guess?"

"Well, in any case, you can figure it out later. Table seven's still waiting on their dinner."

* * *

The cafe closed soon after that, and it was time for the Hamadas to have their own dinner at last. The three of them took their seats around the dinner table, ready to relax and eat after a long day.

"So," Aunt Cass began as she sat down. "I got a pretty interesting invitation while we were working today."

The boys glanced at each other for a moment before turning back to her. "Really?"

"Uh-huh. Actually, it was mostly for you, Hiro-you know Felix, right? The one who comes here every now and then?"

"Oh yeah," replied Hiro. "I, uh, actually overheard you talking to him earlier."

Aunt Cass raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you did? What did you hear?"

"Something about his cousin...and a birthday party...?"

The woman took note of his tone and smirked. "Oh, okay. So you heard most of it, then." She leaned back a bit in her chair. "The girl is pretty smitten by you, from what I heard. But I don't know about the whole birthday party thing."

"I mean..." Hiro glanced over at Tadashi, who shrugged, before continuing, "I don't really mind..."

Aunt Cass looked surprised. "Really? You'd like to go?"

"Yeah, I mean...wouldn't want to hurt the poor girl's feelings, right? And besides...free cake!"

Tadashi smirked a bit.

"Awww, that's really sweet of you, Hiro. Well... I guess we'll arrange it, then! She'll be really happy!"

Hiro smiled, and turned once more to his brother. Tadashi grinned and gave him a thumbs up, and Hiro turned back to his plate. _Ok_...he thought to himself. _So I'm gonna go meet this Vanellope chick who likes me...hopefully she's cool enough to get my mind off of GoGo once and for all.  
_

* * *

"Litwak's arcade?" Tadashi read aloud, as the three of them walked up to the building in question. "Wow. I haven't been here since I was like 11."

"Ooh, I remember this place!" Aunt Cass gushed. "How fun...well, let's go check it out, then."

The noise was audible from the outside, and it sounded like most of the guests were already there. Hiro was briefly wondering what kind of girl Vanellope was if she was having her birthday party here...but the second they walked inside, he got his answer.

The guests were...little. They were _very_ little. The arcade had been rented out for the day, so this wasn't some other birthday party happening at the same time or anything. Vanellope's guests were all little children, no older than ten. So what did that mean about Vanellope herself...?

"Oh my land, you made it!" Felix's voice called out. He walked over to Aunt Cass with a huge smile on his face.

"Felix! It's great to see you!" Aunt Cass greeted back, seeming to the the only one of them who wasn't surprised by the age of the guests. Tadashi and Hiro glanced at each other in shock, but it only got worse from there.

"Vanellope!" Felix called out, causing a tiny girl across the room to look up. "Look who's here!"

Felix gestured to Hiro, who felt his face go pale as the little girl, presumably Vanellope, smiled widely at him.

Vanellope quickly jumped off the chair she was standing on and made a beeline for Hiro. As she got closer, she stopped for a moment, staring up at the boy as if in veneration. Hiro was staring at her too. She really was just a little kid! How could he have been dumb enough not to ask about her age?

"You're here!" Vanellope cried at last, hugging Hiro's legs tightly with her tiny body.

"Awwww!" Cass and Felix cooed at the adorable display.

In a slight panic, Hiro turned to look at his brother. Tadashi had a hand over his mouth, surprised, but he also looked like he was trying to stifle a laugh. Jerk.

"Come on, I can show you how to play a game!" Vanellope cried. She grabbed Hiro by the arm and started pulling him toward some of the video games, surprising the boy with how strong she was. Hiro cast one last panicked look at Tadashi before disappearing into the crowd.

"Well, there she goes," Felix mused. "He really made her day, didn't he? Hopefully he can keep up with her!"

"I think Hiro will be fine," Aunt Cass chuckled. "But, anyway, better go keep an eye on the kids, huh?"

Felix nodded politely, and after a moment he excused himself to go do something, leaving Cass and Tadashi by themselves to find a seat.

"Isn't it nice?" Aunt Cass said to her older nephew. "I always thought Hiro wasn't the type to hang out with young kids. I was surprised when he said he wanted to come here. So sweet of him."

"Uh, yeah, about that," Tadashi began sheepishly. "Um. I think Hiro may have missed the part of the conversation where you mentioned Vanellope's age..."

Aunt Cass frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, we were under the impression that she was a bit older. Like...around Hiro's age."

The woman frowned. "But...she and Hiro have met before. Felix said she saw him at the cafe."

"Ah, we don't remember all the customers like you do, Aunt Cass," Tadashi replied with a smile. "The only reason he wanted to come is cause he thought he'd meet a girl his age."

"Oh...I guess that's my fault then...sorry," she apologized. "But wait, why does he want that? I thought he was totally happy with you and your college friends."

"He is, but that's not the point..." Tadashi leaned forward to his Aunt and lowered his voice as he spoke. "See, Hiro thinks he might wanna start dating."

Aunt Cass stared back in surprise. "He might wanna start _what_?"

Meanwhile, Vanellope had pulled Hiro over to a racing game across the arcade, where a bunch of other small kids were waiting for her.

It had taken him a while, but Hiro finally remembered where he'd seen this girl before. She'd come to the cafe about a week ago and was being really rowdy, so Hiro had decided to quiet her down by showing her a magic trick that Tadashi had taught him. He knew she liked it, but he had no idea that she'd liked him _that_ much.

In all fairness, she hadn't been sitting near Felix at the time, so he had no idea that _she_ was the relative he'd been talking about. If he had, he would have never even considered coming to this party.

"Look, guys, I told you he'd come!" Vanellope declared to her friends. She was bouncing a little as she held Hiro's hand, while the other kids stared at him in awe.

Hiro winced a bit, holding his aching shoulder and looking uncomfortably at the tiny kids. He wanted to explain that this was all a huge mistake, but...how was he going to let this girl down?

"Are you Vanellope's boyfriend?" one of the kids suddenly asked.

"Uh, n-" Hiro began.

"Of course he is, Snoweanna!" Vanellope interrupted him. "That's why he came to my party, duh!" She turned back to Hiro with a smile. "C'mon, Hiro, let's play the racing game!"

She dragged him to the two-player racing game they were standing next to, and sat down, gesturing for him to do the same.

Hiro sighed. Ok, he definitely had to set this girl straight, but maybe later, when it wasn't in front of her friends. For now, a little racing game against a kid wouldn't be too bad.

"Come on, let's go!" Vanellope cried in excitement. She inserted a quarter into the game and got ready. "I'm gonna beat you!"

"As if," Hiro replied. "I bet you can't even reach the pedals."

"Can too!" Vanellope retorted. "Just watch!"

Hiro smirked, turning back to the screen and expecting an easy race...

...and she _destroyed_ him.

"Wh-what?" Hiro stammered, as the other kids cheered. "How did you win?"

"I'm the master at this game!" Vanellope declared proudly. "Nobody's ever beaten me before!"

Hiro couldn't help but grin a little. "Alright then, Vanellope, I see how it is-you know what? I was going easy on you. How about a rematch?"

She smirked. "Ok, but only if you're okay with getting your butt kicked a second time."

"Ha. We'll see about that." He put in a quarter of his own, and got ready to focus this time...

...but she beat him _again_.

"Go Vanellope!" one boy called out, prompting the girl to smile triumphantly again.

"How are you doing that?" Hiro asked her incredulously, feeling certain that she was cheating somehow.

"I told you, I'm the best!" Vanellope relied simply. "But I can let you win this time if you want."

"Aw come on, Vanellope!" one kid cried. "We wanna play too!"

At that moment, Hiro had an idea. He got off the chair and turned to the group of kids. "Ok, guys, how about this: anyone who can beat the birthday girl at racing gets an extra piece of cake!"

The kids' faces lit up at this, and they all began to cheer: "I want to try! I wanna try!"

Vanellope frowned at Hiro. "Heeeey, who made you the leader of the party?"

Hiro shrugged with a smirk. "Hey, this is your chance to prove you're the best, right?"

Vanellope considered this for a moment, then smiled brightly once more. "Hmmmm, that is a good point." She turned to the rest of her guests. "Alright, who wants to go first?"

The kids blew up into chaos at that point, and Hiro took the opportunity to retreat. After a brief moment of searching, he spotted Tadashi and Aunt Cass sitting at a table, munching on some snacks and making small talk with other adults. Hiro quickly made his way over to them, and they both gave him a smirk when they saw him coming.

"How's your date going?" Tadashi asked, snickering as he absentmindedly bit the straw of his drink.

"Shut up," Hiro replied as he sat next to him. "She made my arm hurt from dragging me around so much-it would have been nice to know that Felix's cousin was actually the magic trick girl."

"So you _do_ remember her," Aunt Cass observed.

"I do _now_!" Hiro retorted. "I didn't know she was Felix's relative, okay?"

Tadashi chuckled again. "Hey, you made her happy, right? It can't be all that bad, can it? You looked like you were having fun with the games."

Hiro shrugged. "Yeah, but, I mean...she's going around telling everyone that I'm her boyfriend."

Tadashi just laughed, and Aunt Cass just cooed, "Awww!"

"It's not cute!" Hiro snapped. "How am I supposed to let her down at her own birthday party? This is ridiculous, I shouldn't have come."

"Ah, relax, Hiro," his brother replied. "She's a kid, it's not like it's that serious. You can tell her after the party. Just enjoy it."

"I guess."

"I'm sorry, Hiro," Aunt Cass apologized at last. "If I'd known about your little dating situation, I would have emphasized the age range of these kids a little more-I thought you knew already."

"It's ok..."

He was going to say more, but at that moment, Vanellope interrupted them again, skipping over happily. "Hiya! It's me again!"

Tadashi and Aunt Cass waved at her, but Hiro just sat there dumbfounded.

"Vanellope?" he asked. "Are you done racing everyone already?"

"Not yet, but I think they're getting ready to do the cake right now," she replied sweetly. "But don't worry-as soon as I win, I'll let you have my extra slice."

Hiro heard his family giggling behind him. "Oh...thanks," he replied.

"You're welcome, now come on, they're gonna start-!" She grabbed him by the hand once more and dragged him out of his seat, determined to spend as much time with the boy as she could.

The party went fairly smoothly after that, with Hiro getting dragged around to play some games with the kids, and Tadashi making absolutely no effort to help him. Vanellope eventually did beat all her friends in racing, and as promised, she gave her extra slice of cake to Hiro.

She took him by the hand to a table that was far too small for Hiro to sit at, but of course she made him sit there anyway. She was munching on her own slice of cake, looking thoughtful, while Hiro uncomfortably began to consider how he was going to let her down. Uncertainly, he turned around and spotted Aunt Cass.

Aunt Cass took a picture of him.

Hiro sighed, and just picked at his cake with a fork. The party was drawing to a close, and it was time to get this over with.

"Y'know, Hiro..." Vanellope began suddenly. "I need to tell you something."

Hiro gulped a little, afraid that she might ask him to marry her or something. "Uh, what's up?"

Vanellope hesitated, looking more serious than Hiro had seen her all day. "Well, there's no easy way to say this, so here goes." She smiled at him again. "Hiro, you're a really cool guy. Really, you're lots of fun...but the more time we spend together, the more I think that maybe we're just not right for each other."

Hiro just stared back at her. _Oh my God..._ He thought. _Is this girl for real? She's probably using a break-up script that she heard from a movie or something...but heck, if she's going to make my job easier, I might as well play along._

"Uh, why do you think that?" he asked.

"Well, I thought I liked you, but...now I think you're more like a brother to me," she continued, still serious as ever. "I hope you understand..."

Hiro was chuckling with relief on the inside, but he didn't want her to see him laughing, so he nodded and pretended to take this seriously. "Ah, I see. You know, I actually feel the same."

Vanellope perked up. "Really? So you're not upset?"

"I'm okay with it if you are."

"Oh, phew!" The girl replied with a wide grin. "I was afraid you'd get all mopey and emotional and stuff!"

Well if embarrassment mixed with pure relief were the emotions she was thinking of, then yeah, Hiro was pretty emotional right now.

"You can still have a goody bag though," she assured him.

"Ooh. Thank goodness for that."

Vanellope finished up her cake and eventually got distracted by something else, bidding adieu to Hiro at last. The boy got up, his back aching from sitting in that tiny chair, and joined up with his family once more.

"So I got dumped," he declared.

Tadashi looked over at him incredulously. "Are you serious? After all that?"

"Yep. According to her, we're just not right for each other."

"Wow. Mature," Aunt Cass giggled. The three of them soon grabbed their stuff and got ready to leave.

"What a shame," Tadashi mused. "Don't worry, little bro-I know you're upset about your break-up, but there's plenty of fish in the sea."

"Hardy har," Hiro replied. "I guess it wasn't all bad, I mean, the arcade was fun, the cake was good..."

"...but it didn't help with the whole GoGo thing, huh?"

Hiro glared up at his brother at the mention of GoGo, but simply shrugged. "Yeah, well, I guess we're back to square one, then. If we even left square one, that is."

Tadashi patted his brother's shoulder as they stepped outside at last. "Well, on the plus side...at least when you do meet a nice girl, you'll have a funny story to tell her."

Hiro rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah, that's rich," he said. "If she asks me if I've ever dated anyone before, I get to say, ' _yeah, I was in a one-hour relationship with a nine-year-old."_


	3. ROUND 2: VIOLET

ROUND 2: VIOLET

" _Panic spread throughout San Fransokyo this afternoon as a swarm of mutant flies escaped from SF Bio Labs and flew into the city. Fortunately, Big Hero 6 arrived on the scene just in time, and in a surprise twist, the long-dormant superheroes known as the Incredibles showed up to lend a hand. The situation was soon put under control, and several people were injured, but fortunately, no lives were lost. SF Bio Labs has been shut down until further notice-"_

Pause. Rewind.

" _Panic spread through San Fransokyo this afternoon as a swarm of mutant flies..."_

Hiro frowned as the audio from his friend's phone began to repeat itself for what felt like the billionth time. "Riley, why are you playing that news clip again?" he asked, frowning at the girl sitting across from him at the cafe.

"Because it's cool!" Riley replied enthusiastically. She slurped her drink loudly, not even bothering to look up at Hiro.

Riley Andersen had basically become a staple of the Lucky Cat Cafe within the past few months. At first she'd only come with her parents, but nowadays she hung around here so often that she may as well be considered the third Hamada sibling.

And just like a sister, she loved to bug Hiro. Today she was doing it by playing and replaying the same news clip over and over, which detailed Big Hero 6's crazy endeavors that day. Although Hiro loved the fame, he'd heard this news report so many times by now that he was starting to memorize it.

"No, it's not cool," Hiro told her tiredly. "I almost died."

"Not that part," Riley giggled. "I mean the part with the Incredibles! It was awesome to see you guys actually fighting together! It was like a crossover!"

"Crossover? Seriously? You're starting to sound like Fred."

Riley started the video on her phone _again_ (Hiro was certain she was just trying to annoy him at this point-there was no way she actually wanted to hear the report for the twenty-fifth time), but to his relief, Tadashi appeared and took a seat next to them, looking tired but still smiling as usual.

"Whatcha watching, Riley?" the older boy asked.

"I'm watching you guys! Check it out!"

"Oh yeah, this was pretty great," Tadashi mused as she handed him her phone. "We almost died."

"But the Incredibles showed up!"

"Yeah, that too."

Now that Tadashi was here, Riley finally put her dang phone away, and instead spent her energy by kicking her legs wildly under the table and slurping loudly once more. "But like...isn't it awesome?" the girl continued. "That the actual Incredibles are back and they're right here in the city!" she lowered her voice to a whisper. "They could even be in this cafe right now!"

"Nah, I think I'd see them if they were," Hiro smirked. "You saw them, right, Tadashi? They have those tiny masks that barely even cover up their face. I'd know them if I saw them."

"No you wouldn't," Riley retorted.

"Yes, I would."

"Ok, that's great," Tadashi interrupted. "Can we maybe be talk about something else? I'd like to forget about the whole fly incident, if you don't mind." He shuddered a bit at the thought.

"Same," said Hiro.

"Awww," Riley groaned sadly. "But there's nothing else interesting to talk about!"

"What are you doing this weekend, Riley?" Tadashi suggested.

Riley frowned in frustration, but still considered his question. "Ummmm...oh, I'm going ice skating with my friends at the mall tomorrow!"

"Sounds fun."

"Yeah, do you guys wanna come? All my friends will be there, we could play some hockey and stuff..."

"I'm pretty busy, actually," Tadashi replied apologetically. "But maybe you can take Hiro."

Hiro looked up at both of them, then leaned back in his chair and shrugged. "Hockey sounds fun."

"Yay!" cheered Riley. "You can be on my team! With my skills and your strategy, we'll crush everyone!" She cackled loudly, causing the boys to look at each other with slight concern.

Tadashi listened to the girl ramble, then leaned over to Hiro with a mutter: "We really need to keep her away from Fred."

* * *

It was about ten in the morning the next day when Hiro was dropped off with Riley at the mall. Hiro was still yawning as they went down the stairs to the ice rink, while Riley was rambling about how nobody was ever here this early and they'd have the whole place to themselves.

"Alright, have fun, you two," Riley's mother said. "Riley, make sure you listen to Mrs. Tucci and Mrs. Wiggins, okay?"

"Yeah, mom," Riley replied, obviously ready to go.

"Thanks again for the ride, Mrs. Andersen," Hiro said politely.

She smiled at him. "Of course, Hiro-see you in a couple hours."

As Riley's mother left, Hiro turned to look at the group of kids gathered near the rink. Those must be Riley's friends. Hiro gulped to himself as he realized that this would be the first time in a while he'd be hanging out with people closer to his age. Hopefully they didn't realize just how...different he was.

...huh. Funny. Something about that black-haired girl looked oddly familiar...

"Riley!" a voice called out suddenly. Hiro snapped out of his thoughts to see a small, dark-skinned girl with curly hair run up to them with a grin. "What took you so long?" she asked. "Everyone's been waiting to start the game!"

"Sorry," Riley apologized. "It's just that _someone_ -" she nudged Hiro-" was taking way too long to get ready."

The second girl seemed to notice Hiro there at last, and paused slightly as she looked him up and down. "O-oh...uh, who's he?"

"This is my friend Hiro-Hiro, this is Tip."

He waved at her, and Tip seemed to shrink back a little in shyness, grinning like a goofball.

At that moment, the rest of Riley's friends spotted them and headed over. "Hey Riley!" one boy called out. "Girls vs Boys game is off-Penny couldn't make it."

"Awww, what?"

"Said her hamster was sick or something-we'll have to play with an odd number..." He then noticed Hiro and stopped. "Uh, unless this new guy wants to play?"

"Oh sorry-" said Riley. "Guys, this is my friend Hiro. Hiro, meet Ted, Jordan, Violet, Astro, Wilbur...and you've already met Tip."

They greeted him happily, but Hiro's attention was already focused on the black-haired girl from before, the one named Violet. Something about her seemed so...familiar, but he couldn't place his finger on it. Maybe she'd come to the cafe before?

No...no, there was something else. Hiro stood there for a moment, hoping she hadn't noticed him staring, and then for some reason the thought occurred to him to picture her with a black mask. Hesitating, the boy held up his hand so it covered her face in his vision, imitating a mask...and it hit him.

 _Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh._ The boy was inwardly freaking out as the others continued discussing teams. Of course he recognized her. That mask didn't do a thing to hide her identity-not to someone who had already fought alongside her.

"...can't do Girls vs Boys cause there's more boys now-unless Hiro doesn't mind being a girl." Riley slapped a hand on Hiro's shoulder as she spoke, startling him a little. "What do you think, Hiro?"

"Eh?" Hiro replied. "Oh, uh...sure. Sure, I can be with the girls."

With this agreed upon, the kids split up in their respective teams to play. While everyone was putting on their skates and gear, Hiro stepped to the corner for a moment and pulled out his phone, eager to tell Tadashi about what he'd just discovered.

 _DUDE_ , he texted. _THE INCREDIBLES GIRL IS RIGHT HERE OMG_

Tadashi replied quickly.

 _Tadashi: WHAT? WHY IS SHE THERE? IS SOMETHING HAPPENING?_

 _Hiro: NO EVERYTHING IS FINE. SHE'S OUT OF COSTUME-BUT I KNOW IT'S HER._

 _Tadashi: Oh. Are you sure? How do you know?_

 _Hiro: SHE HAS THE SAME FACE BRO-BUT I CAN STILL ASK._

 _Tadashi: Uhhh, what? Do you really think she'd just tell you if she was?_

 _Hiro: Oh. Good point. ...I'll get back to you on that._

He put his phone away and secured his gear on his body. They soon got out on the ice, and the girls all positioned themselves next to Hiro.

"Sorry in advance if I slip," Hiro told them jokingly. "I'm not an expert player like Riley."

"It's ok, we all stink," Tip giggled. "Except for Riley and Jordan-the rest of us fall all the time."

"You should see when Ted falls down," Violet added. "It's hilarious."

"I can hear you!" Ted snapped from the other side.

"Whatever, Ted!" Riley yelled back. "Come on, Jordan, let's start the game already!"

Jordan and Riley faced off in the middle, and the game kicked off from there. Hiro did his best to keep up, but as was expected, he and several others continued to slip and fall. It was basically a game between Riley and Jordan, to be perfectly honest, but it was still fun.

More importantly, though, Hiro was wondering how he was to confront Violet-he was _sure_ that she was the girl from the Incredibles, but it wasn't like he could go up and ask. He had to be a little more discreet about it.

Then, he had an idea. The players were taking a break from the game right then, probably arguing over whether the last goal counted. Violet was standing by herself in the middle, waiting for them to finish.

Hiro saw the opportunity and slowly skated over to her side. Before she could ask what he was doing, the boy leaned over, smirking, and whispered in her ear: "Hey Violet...can you turn invisible?"

She froze in utter shock, then turned to look Hiro up and down. Then she turned to look in front of her, a smile of her own forming. "That depends...can you fly on a giant robot?"

"Maybe."

She turned back to him with a sparkled in her eyes. "You're the Big Hero 6 guy!" she whispered. "I knew it! You know, your helmet doesn't do a good job of hiding your face."

Hiro took a step back, still smirking. "Look who's talking-I could see right through _your_ disguise too, you know."

"True," she giggled.

They took another look at the rest of the kids, who were still talking about something, and slowly skated over to the edge of the rink.

"Ok, but for real," Hiro asked again. "Can you actually turn invisible? Right now? Without your suit?"

"Sure," Violet replied with a teasing tone. "Wanna see?" She took one look at the others to make sure they weren't watching, and then, to Hiro's surprise, she disappeared.

For about half a second, Hiro saw nothing but a hollow set of hockey gear floating before him, with nobody inside. Violet quickly appeared again, grinning widely at his reaction.

"That's _insane_!" Hiro whispered again. "You actually _have_ superpowers!"

"Don't you?" Violet asked in confusion.

"Nope, it's all in the suit," he smirked with pride. "Made it myself."

Violet raised an eyebrow. "Really?" she asked skeptically. " _Nobody_ helped you? At all?"

"Ah well...yeah, the team helped me make their suits...but _my_ suit is all me."

Violet grinned again. "Whoa. Awesome."

Meanwhile, on the ice, Wilbur scored a goal, and the boys cheered.

"No fair, Wilbur!" Riley cried. "That was totally illegal!"

"Jordan?" Wilbur asked, cocking his head to the side. "Was that illegal?"

"Nope," Jordan smirked.

"Jordan said it's not illegal. I believe Jordan."

Riley rolled her eyes as the boys patted Wilbur on the back.

"Riley!" Tip suddenly called from her spot at the goal. "Where the heck is our team?"

Riley looked around her and finally noticed that a good half of her team seemed to be missing. "Hey, yeah!" she cried out. "Where the heck is my team?"

The boys shrugged in confusion, before Astro pointed to the side of the rink, where Hiro and Violet were talking in hushed voices to each other. "There they are!"

They all turned to look, and Riley frowned. "What are they doing?"

"Ooooooh!" Ted called out. "Now I see why he wanted to be on the girls team!"

Astro began to sing: "Caaaaaan you feeeeeel the looooove toniiiight?"

"Riley, your new friend is a playboy."

Riley rolled her eyes, knowing that Hiro was certainly _not_ a playboy but being too caught up in the game to care. With a huff, she began to skate her way over to them.

"...You're lucky you don't have any _real_ superpowers," Violet was saying, totally oblivious to the commotion. "You get to become normal whenever you want to. Nobody thinks you're a freak."

Hiro winced at this. "Well I mean...not to brag, but I do have super _smarts_. I skipped like four grades and was the youngest in the class all the time. A lot of people thought that was pretty freaky..."

"Really?"

"Yeah..."

"Hey Lovebirds!" Riley snapped, reaching them at last. "You realize the game's still going, right?"

Hiro and Violet stopped their conversation in surprise. "Huh? Since when?"

"Since now! You can flirt after the game, come on!"

The two of them turned pink. "F-flirt?"

"OTP!" Ted cried out with a laugh. "I ship it!"

Hiro and Violet said nothing, just skated back out in embarrassment, not noticing the two pairs of eyes watching them in envy.

* * *

"Ted, you can argue all you want, but we won, okay?" Tip smirked, standing over the boy as he took off his hockey gear. Tons of people had started showing up around lunch time, and the group decided that their game was over. Now they were just waiting for everyone's parents to get here.

"No you didn't," Ted snapped back. "That last goal was totally illegal-just ask Jordan."

"Yeah," said Jordan.

" _Jordan_!" Riley snapped.

"Actually no," Jordan said to Ted. "It wasn't illegal, actually."

" _Really_?"

Hiro simply stood aside and watched. The banter was entertaining, sure, but he couldn't help but think about what Riley had said about him and Violet earlier. To be honest, he hadn't even thought of Violet as a potential girlfriend until Riley had brought it up-but even then, he hadn't been planning on just saying goodbye either. Maybe this could work. He _was_ trying to find someone to date, after all, and who could be a better option than a fellow superhero?

His phone buzzed in his pocket, indicating that Tadashi was here to get him. It was now or never.

Waiting for an ample opportunity, Hiro walked over to Violet and tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey."

She turned to him with a shy smile. "Hey."

Hiro stopped, realizing that he hadn't actually planned out how he was going to propose this to her. Looks like he'd have to wing it. "So, uh..." he began. "I actually have to leave in a minute, so..."

"Oh," she looked at the ground, disappointed, but smiled at him again. "Well, it was really nice to meet you, Hiro."

"Yeah, you too...actually, I was thinking...do you maybe wanna hang out again sometime?"

Her eyes widened. "For real?"

"Yeah, you seem nice. It would be cool to get to know you outside of...you know, our work..."

From the corner of his eye he spotted Tadashi show up in the area, but at the sight of Hiro talking to a girl, his brother stopped to observe.

Violet giggled for a moment after his question, but nodded. "Sure, I don't mind at all-lemme give you my number."

Hiro smiled widely as they exchanged phone numbers, relieved at how nicely that had gone over. After bidding farewell to the rest of the kids, the boy walked giddily over to his brother, who was leaning against a wall and smirking.

"Well, well, well," Tadashi teased. "Who was that?"

" _That_ was the Incredibles girl," Hiro relied with a smirk. "Just like I said."

"No way," Tadashi said, looking over at the girl once more. "I can't believe she's right there."

"Aaaaand I even got her number," Hiro bragged. "She even agreed to hang out sometime."

Tadashi laughed. "Wow, amazing. My brother manages to score a date with another superhero. And even more impressive-you asked her out without stammering even once! I'm proud of you, bro."

"Real funny." Hiro said with a roll of his eyes.

"So what's she like, anyway?"

"She seems cool, but I don't know her just yet...that's what dates are for, right...?"

* * *

It was slightly awkward when Hiro met Violet at the park the following week. As he sat there waiting for her, he remembered that he'd never been on a real date before and he had no idea what to say.

" _Just ask her about herself,"_ Tadashi had advised him. " _Show her you're interested."_

And yet for some reason, he couldn't for the life of him think of what he would say to her. It was weird. When he met her for the first time, he had zero problems talking to her. But now that they were in a supposedly romantic context, he felt like there was some kind of hidden date etiquette that he didn't know about and was guaranteed to screw up somehow.

...wow, this was dumb. He, Hiro Hamada, the boy who dealt with the pressures of being a boy genius, the one who saved the city from peril on a regular basis, was nervous about a date. A date with someone who was actually quite similar to himself-seriously, what was he afraid of? It wasn't like the girl was going to sneak up and scare him.

"Boo!" She suddenly shouted. An invisible hand clamped down on his shoulder, causing the boy to jump up in surprise with a yelp.

"G-geez, Violet, you gave me a heart attack!"

Violet turned visible and raised an eyebrow at him. "What, you were scared of that? How did you deal with the mutant flies, then?"

"Do _not_ remind me of the mutant flies."

She giggled and sat down a couple feet away from him. It got quiet again just then, with the two of them trying once more to think of what to say.

"So, ummmm," Violet began. "Is it true that you're actually in college, Hiro?"

"Um, yeah. How did you know...?"

"Riley told me."

"Riley?"

Violet nodded. "She talks about you a lot. She says you're kinda like a brother to her."

Hiro smiled. "Yeah, that's true-what else did she tell you?"

"Well, I know that you have an older brother, you live in a cafe, and you used to go bot-fighting."

Hiro winced. "Wow. I'm never telling Riley anything again."

Violet grinned.

Hiro was quiet for a moment, then continued. "Well, it sure sounds like you know more about me than I know about you..."

"Oh, well...um, I have _two_ brothers, and they're both obnoxious...and um, I live in a house...and we're just your average suburban family...except, not really."

They both chuckled.

"So, wait," Violet continued. "I'm curious-if you don't have powers, how did you become a superhero?"

"Ah, it's a long story..."

"I've got time."

Hiro smirked. "Well, I guess it started on the night of my very last bot fight..."

They got up to walk a bit as Hiro told his story, and soon they got caught up in talking about all kinds of things...like superhero stuff, and friends...and superhero stuff again...

Hiro was actually quite relieved at how well the whole thing went. Meeting Violet had been a lucky twist of fate for him, on many different fronts-she was cool, friendly, and a superhero, like him. Maybe she was the solution to his problem after all.

...but he had to ask himself; did he really feel the same way about her as he did about GoGo?

At the thought of GoGo, Hiro felt himself flush, and his heart sped up for just a moment. _No Hiro,_ _forget about her_ , he thought. _Forget about GoGo, you're with Violet now._

So he shook the thought from his head. Truth be told, though, that effect had scared him. He certainly didn't feel that rush when he thought of Violet, but...maybe he just needed to give it some time. After all, Violet was cool, and the were getting along great. Yeah, that was it. They just needed more time, was all...yeah, that's all...just some more time...


	4. CHALLENGER

CHALLENGER

 _Hiro: So, uh...I might be a little late...got some school work to finish up._

 _Violet: Ok. For how long?_

 _Hiro: Like ten, twenty minutes?_

 _Violet: That's fine, I don't mind waiting._

 _Violet: Omg, you won't believe it. Wilbur just showed up here out of nowhere lol._

 _Hiro: Wilbur Robinson?_

 _Violet: Yeah._

 _Hiro: Lol are you two attached at the hip or something? Whenever you're not with me, you're with him_

 _Violet: OMG no_

 _Violet: It's not like that at all!_

 _Violet: We're just friends, I promise!_

 _Hiro: ...chill out, Violet, I wasn't saying otherwise._

 _Hiro: Anyway, I'll see you in a bit._

 _Violet: Oh, ok...see ya._

Hiro tossed his phone at his desk and rubbed his temples tiredly. This assignment he was working on had decided to get really wonky all of a sudden, and right before he was supposed to meet up with Violet too. He only hoped the poor girl wouldn't have to wait for too long, as he tended to get caught up in his work and lose track of time...

As he leaned back in his chair and looked at the ceiling of his lab, Tadashi showed up and waved his hand in front of Hiro's face.

"You okay?" he chuckled, and Hiro groaned in response.

"This stupid homework is really annoying..."

"You don't have to finish it now, you know."

"I won't. I need to go meet Violet in a few minutes anyway." Sighing, Hiro stood up and stretched his back, putting on his jacket in the process.

"Sounds like a good excuse to me," Tadashi chuckled. "Just tell the professor you couldn't do your homework cause you had an emergency-you were late to meet your girlfriend."

Hiro snorted, but before he could answer, Fred suddenly poked his head into the open door of their lab.

"Do my ears deceive me?" Fred asked loudly, "Or did someone just say that Hiro has a girlfriend?"

"Hiro has a _what_?" Honey Lemon called from outside.

Hiro scoffed. "Way to spill the beans, big brother."

Tadashi shrugged. "What? It's been like three weeks. You were gonna tell everyone eventually, right?"

Hiro just took a couple steps toward the door and shrugged. Actually, he'd never _officially_ asked Violet to be his girlfriend, but they'd been hanging out so often these past few weeks that it seemed like an unspoken conclusion. Heck, Violet was even acting as such, worrying about him getting jealous and everything.

Hiro frowned slightly as he thought of their conversation earlier. It was sweet that she was trying to reassure him, sure, but the way she tended to misinterpret what he was saying was kind of annoying. True, anyone else would have come to the same conclusion as her, Hiro decided, but the truth was that he really wasn't worried about Wilbur Robinson in the slightest. Something in him told him that he _should_ be worried, but he just wasn't.

"Anyway, I should really get going," Hiro stated as he finally headed out.

"Need a ride?" Tadashi asked him. "I can spare a few minutes."

"Sure, thanks."

As they walked out, Fred was waiting giddily for Hiro by the door, ready to bombard him with questions.

"So who is she?"

"Her name's Violet." For a second he considered telling him about her superhero identity but decided against it-he didn't need another outburst right now.

"What's she like?"

"She's pretty cool."

"Cool? Just cool?"

"Uh, well, I mean...she's nice."

"Leave him alone, Fred," Tadashi chuckled. "He's already late for his date."

"That's so cuuuuute!" Honey called from her spot. "Have fun, Hiro, tell us all about it later!"

"Th-thanks."

Hiro followed his brother to the door of the lab, when suddenly another voice got his attention.

"Congrats."

Hiro stopped and turned to the voice. It was GoGo.

"Uh...for what?" He asked.

GoGo popped her bubblegum and smirked. "On getting a girlfriend. I was starting to think you were gay."

Hiro rolled his eyes but involuntarily smiled at her, like always. "Heh, yeah...thanks..."

"Hiro!" Tadashi called from the door.

Hiro nodded a goodbye to GoGo, then followed Tadashi outside.

"So what do you guys do on your dates, anyway?" The older one asked.

Hiro shrugged. "Just talk."

"About what?"

"Uh, super stuff, mostly? And, like sometimes we talk about...life, and friends and stuff," he smirked. "But like, the only friend we really have in common is Riley-but I'm not going on dates with Violet so I can talk about Riley. That would be weird."

Tadashi chuckled. "Ok, well...as long as you're enjoying yourself, right?"

"Yeah..."

The ride only took a few minutes on Tadashi's moped. They soon pulled up to the ring cafe where Hiro had agreed to meet Violet. She was seated outside at a table with an umbrella, and Hiro spotted what looked like Wilbur Robinson sitting with her, talking to her.

Tadashi noticed this as well, and raised an eyebrow. "Whoa, hold on...who's that?"

"Uh, that's just Wilbur," Hiro replied nonchalantly, taking off his helmet.

"Wilbur who?"

"He's just a friend of hers. No worries."

"Uh. Ok. If you say so-anyway, I'll see you later?"

"Yeah. Bye."

Tadashi soon drove away and Hiro headed over to the table where the other two were seated. They hadn't seemed to notice him coming and were deeply engaged in some conversation, laughing quietly as they spoke.

"Violet!" Hiro called out, making the two look up.

Violet smiled widely at the sight of him. "Hiro! Hey!"

Wilbur blinked in surprise and seemed to frown for a moment before giving a grin of his own. "Hey, Hiro man! I was afraid you wouldn't show."

"No way," Hiro replied as he took a seat, ignoring any passive-aggressiveness in Wilbur's comment. "Sorry I took so long. Anyway, uh...good to see you Wilbur."

"Yeah, good to see you too...I was just, you know, in the area, and I saw Violet, so we were just talking till you got here-you two are here for a date, right?"

"Yep," Violet replied.

Wilbur nodded as he slowly got out of his seat. "Well then, I should probably get going, Wouldn't want to get in the way of you two lovers."

"Aww, okay," Violet said. "See you later."

"Bye..."

Wilbur and Hiro exchanged an ambiguous look before Wilbur left, but Hiro thought nothing of it.

With that out of the way, Hiro finally turned to Violet with a grin. "So..." he began.

"So..." she also said. "Um...what were you working on at school?"

"Oh, that." Hiro sighed. "Just a little robotics project that's giving me more trouble than it's worth. It started off fine, but now for some reason it just won't do what I want it to do."

Violet raised an eyebrow. "You build robots at school?"

"Yeah...you know, I'm a robotics major. It's what I do."

"Oh, that's right. You're in college," she mused. "So, how do you do that, do you have like a...lab...?"

"Yeah, we do! It's super cool, you've got a ton of people spread all over the place doing crazy experiments-one person making chemical explosions at that station, one person working with lasers over there..." he grinned as he spoke. "It's awesome."

Violet smiled politely as she listened. "That's cool. College sounds fun."

"I mean, the homework load is murder, but other than that, yeah, it's pretty fun..."

Violet chuckled, and it was quiet for a moment.

"Hmm," the girl started again. "Actually, your lab kinda reminds me of the lab I see at Wilbur's house."

"Wilbur's house?"

"Yeah, I mean...I've been there once or twice," she shrugged. "His dad has a lab just like yours."

Hiro grinned. "Really? Cool, I'll have to go over there sometime."

Violet scoffed. "Good luck, I mean...I've only gotten a few glances at it, but he doesn't really let people into his lab...I guess cause he's working on some secret Robinson Industries project or something."

"Oh," said Hiro. Then he looked up at the the sky with a thoughtful smile. "Robinson Industries, huh? Yeah, they make some good stuff. Must be nice to work there."

"Well, I mean, his dad is the owner of the whole thing, so..."

Hiro raised an eyebrow. "Owner? But Robinson Industries is owned by Cornelius...Cornelius _Robinson_ -wait a minute!" Hiro basically slammed his hands on the table as he leaned forward toward her. "Cornelius Robinson is Wilbur's _dad_? For real?"

Violet leaned backward, a little weirded out by Hiro's outburst but saying nothing about it. "Um...yeah."

"No way! Why didn't anyone tell me? That guy is my hero! Wait-did Wilbur leave already?" He looked up in the direction Wilbur had left in, but unfortunately didn't see him.

Violet gave a curt chuckle. "Haha, wow...you didn't know? I mean, they have the same last name."

"Hey, tons of people are named Robinson, ok? Holy crud, though..."

"Well...don't worry, you can probably ask Wilbur to get you an autograph or something from his dad sometime..."

"Right. Yeah."

They were quiet again, with Hiro still grinning widely at the news for a moment, before they just kinda sat there for a moment longer.

Then Violet spoke again. "So, uh...speaking of inventions," she said, fishing for a subject. "Uh, how are those supersuit upgrades going?"

Hiro smiled with relief. Superhero stuff was always their fall-back subject on dates, and they fell back on it a lot. The two of them could talk at length about this, Hiro had noticed, but not about much else. If it was GoGo, they'd have plenty of things to talk about...agh, no. He had to stop comparing Violet to GoGo, for crying out loud.

"It's good!" he responded. "I'm working on my own suit now-when it's done, I finally might be able to fight on my own, without Baymax. I'd be able to create a small magnetic field with my gloves, and if we're fighting any robotic enemies, I could jam their circuits from like ten feet away."

Violet listened in curiosity. "You can actually do that?"

"Yeah! Oh, and wait till you hear what we've been working on for Wasabi...when that's done, we'll hopefully be able to avoid another situation like the creepy candy factory...because that was a mess."

Violet laughed. "The creepy what? What happened there?"

"Oh my gosh, it was horrible..."

They went on like this for what felt like forever, each one sharing a bunch of ridiculous stories from their respective adventures. Hiro chatted with her in relief. For a moment, he'd been worried that they'd already run out of things to talk about-actually, he felt like that on a lot of their dates. But, hey, as long as they found a subject to latch on to, it was fine. Like Tadashi said, as long as they were enjoying themselves, there were no problems, right?

* * *

By the fifth week, Hiro began to notice some problems.

He'd asked to get to know her outside of their work. And yet, whenever they met, they mostly talked about their work. He heard about her family only from the superhero perspective, and she knew about his friends and family in that regard too. Try as he might, Hiro couldn't find a natural way to build up to a more personal conversation...and it had been over a month.

Oh, and of course there was Wilbur Robinson...but that was a whole other can of worms. (Hiro had gotten an invitation to come meet the guy's dad though-that was a ray of sunshine among all this confusion at least.)

But it was ok. Every relationship has its bumps, right? He just had to find a way to...well, fix it.

Not that he was worried about this at the current moment though. He still had his stupid project to focus on. It was going to be due soon, and the darn thing was only getting worse. Some genius he was, couldn't even figure out this little homework assignment. Heck, he was so caught up in it that he couldn't even focus on the friends he was supposed to be hanging out with at the cafe right now.

Hiro sighed at the schematics on his tablet and rubbed his forehead. It was a beautiful Saturday morning and he was sitting next to his friends at the Lucky Cat Cafe, but of course homework just had to get in the way. If the whole group had been here, then maybe things would have been crazy enough to get his mind off the work, but Wasabi was stuck at home for some reason, and Tadashi was off with Honey Lemon on a date somewhere...so it was just himself, GoGo, and Fred lounging lazily around. Oh, and Riley was there too, of course. Because Riley was always there.

"...so then, next thing I knew, I was grabbed by this huge thug!" Fred narrated to an eagerly listening Riley. "He huge, like the size of a mountain! And the small one says, 'Now you tell me where the rest of your team is, or I'll feed you to my alligators!' And I said, 'No way, Tiny Tim! You won't best us that easy!'"

Riley listened in fascination as GoGo rolled her eyes at the story. Hiro wasn't paying attention.

"I knew that any second now, Hiro would be able to override the system, and the tide would turn in our favor. I just had to wait. So the little guy says, 'So be it-I'm sure the rest of your team will be more cooperative when they see you getting ripped apart!' And then he snapped his fingers and ordered his goon to take me to the alligator pit!"

"What did you do?" Riley gasped.

"Well, I was scared, of course! Those things looked like they hadn't been fed in centuries! But I held my ground and didn't say a word-and then bang! The lights suddenly went out! I heard the team coming in, and I saw my chance! Using my ultra-strong chop-kicking technique, I broke away from that thug and pushed him off-and let me tell you, those alligators thought he was delicious."

"Ewwwww!" said Riley.

"Oh, get real, Fred," GoGo interrupted at last. "None of that happened-literally the only thing you got right in your story was the lights going out."

"Hey, GoGo...stop ruining my vibe, ok?" Fred replied.

"Ugh," GoGo groaned, but she allowed Fred to go back to his crazy stories.

"Ugh," Hiro also said, slamming his head into the tablet in exasperation.

GoGo turned away from Fred and Riley to see what he was doing. "And what's up with you?"

He didn't reply.

"Hiro!"

"Eh?"

"Why are you slamming your head into your tablet?"

"Oh, that..." Hiro sighed and rubbed his eyes. "It's just this stupid robotics project. I know what the problem is, but I don't know what to do about it! I've tried like thirty different equations, but none of them are working!"

GoGo sipped her drink and thought for a moment, watching Hiro freak out for a second. "Hey," she said. "Maybe I could take a look."

Hiro looked up at her in surprise. "Uh, are you sure? You're not even a robotics major."

GoGo raised an eyebrow. "I'm an engineer, Hiro-you could at least let me try to help."

Hiro flushed in embarrassment. "Uh, ok...thanks." He slid his tablet and other supplies over to her, and then turned to Fred, who was finally finishing his story.

"...and so, the dragon elixir was destroyed, Tiny Man was sent to Siberia, and Big Hero 6 saved the day once again." Fred finished.

"Awesome!" Riley cried, slurping her drink in excitement.

"Uh-huh," Hiro piped up. "I didn't hear any of that, but I'm pretty sure he made most of it up."

"I know," said Riley. "But it's still cool!"

"Tune in next time when I tell you the story of how we saved Hiro's girlfriend from the giant gorilla," Fred smirked.

GoGo sighed as she worked. "That didn't happen..."

"Oh yeah," Riley began, as if she's suddenly remembered something. "Hiro-so you and Violet really _are_ going out, right?"

Hiro frowned. "We've been going out for a month, Riley...why?"

"Nothing, it's just...there's been some disagreement with my friends and me...over whether or not you're actually dating."

"What are you talking about? Why?"

"Cause like, you don't really do anything date-y, you know?"

Hiro raised an eyebrow. "Date-y?"

"Like, you hang out a lot but you don't hold hands or sit close to each other or anything. You just talk."

Hiro stared at the girl incredulously for a second and was about to respond, but GoGo did it for him.

"They don't have to hold hands just cause they're going out, Riley," the older girl stated. "Or get close to each other at all. Intimacy is a privilege, not an obligation."

"Those were some big words, GoGo," Fred chuckled.

"Are you speaking feminist again?" Riley giggled.

Hiro couldn't help but snicker at this comment, and GoGo shot him a look.

"Eh, that's ok, Hiro." Riley said. "At least now I can tell my friends that I'm right." She smirked, but at that moment her phone began to ring. She took it out, and her smile disappeared. "Awww, man. My mom is here. I have to go."

"See you later, Riley!" Fred called out.

Riley waved at the three of them before heading out the door.

Fred turned to Hiro. "Speaking of your girlfriend, though-you still haven't told us much about her, huh?"

Hiro frowned again. "Well, you've met her, haven't you?"

"Yeah, but I don't _know_ her!"

Hiro sighed and leaned back. "Ah, well...she's cool. We like to hang out and...talk about superhero stuff."

"Ah, so she's a superhero fan too, huh?" Fred mused. "Good choice."

Hiro hesitated for a moment. Then he leaned forward and spoke in a hushed voice. "Actually...uh, I need to tell you something, but it's a secret."

Fred leaned forward in anticipation, and GoGo looked up as well.

"...she _is_ a superhero, actually," Hiro told them at last. "You know Invisigirl from the Incredibles?"

"What?" GoGo gasped.

"You're dating _Invisigirl_?" Fred whispered loudly.

"Yeah, but you can't tell anyone!" Hiro reminded them.

"My lips are sealed," Fred replied with a grin. "But dang, you and Invisigirl...that's so perfect! It's like...two people from two superhero teams meet up and fall in love...way too cool."

"Yeah. Cool." _But that's it. It's just cool._

"Gee, in that case, I'll have to change my story!" Fred continued. "We didn't save Hiro's girlfriend from a giant gorilla...Hiro's girlfriend made a force field...and then _ate_ the gorilla."

"Just stop, Fred." GoGo scoffed. She was quiet for a second, looking over at Hiro, before she continued: "And Hiro..." she paused. "You don't have to hold her hand if you don't want to."

Hiro looked over at her for a moment, and smiled warmly. "Yeah. Thanks."

They slipped into a soft silence right then, except for Fred slurping loudly on his drink and thinking about who knows what.

After a moment, GoGo slammed her pencil down in frustration. "Hiro, what _is_ this?" She asked, gesturing at the tablet in her hand.

Hiro smirked. "See? Told you it's annoying."

"This sure is one heck of a mess you made," she told him, finally sliding his supplied back. "You're going to have to split up these two parts,"

Hiro looked down at the area of the schematic she was pointing to, then groaned. "What? But then I'd have to start all over!"

"Well, this clearly isn't working. Better to clean up your mess than keep making it bigger."

Hiro groaned. "Ugh. Fine." He got up and waved a distracted goodbye to his friends, heading upstairs to get started on the modified project.

He got up to his room, and the first thing he did was slam his head on his desk. Clean up his mess. Yeah, thanks, GoGo. As if he didn't already have plenty of messes to be cleaning up right now.


	5. CONTINUE? YES

CONTINUE? YES

"...so, then Dash runs right up to the thing like an _idiot_ -thank goodness he's so fast, or it definitely would have caught him-but then the robot jumped out of the way and we couldn't get to it anymore."

Hiro yawned a bit as Violet continued her story. Not that he wasn't interested in what she was saying, but...something about it was bothering him.

"So then dad has to grab all of us and follow the robot," Violet continued, almost dumping out her words. "But it was really funny, actually, cause mom was using her elastic arms to swing us through the buildings like we were monkeys on a vine or something-"

"Hey, Violet?" Hiro piped up suddenly. "Uh, sorry to interrupt, but...uh, I think you've told me this one before."

She blinked. "I have? Oh, sorry. I just get caught up in these stories sometimes..."

Hiro smiled. "Hey, me too. Maybe we can talk about something else for a change..." He paused.

She was awkwardly quiet too. "Um. How's life? Projects?"

"Right, yeah. They're going fine. What about you? You're gonna be in high school soon, right?"

"Yeah, but I'm kinda scared," she giggled. "You've already been through high school, right? What's it like? It's not the same as the movies, is it?"

Hiro winced. His high school experience hadn't been the best. "Uh...no, I think you'll be fine. As long as..." _As long as nobody knows how different you are._ "As long as you hang out with people who are nice to you."

"Oh, yeah," Violet said. "It's also cause Wilbur is the only one who's gonna graduate with me, so...I dunno, I guess I'll stick with him."

Hiro nodded slowly. "Ok. That should be fine."

"Yeah."

There was another pause. Hiro fished for another subject to talk about. "Er, so...have you seen the new Star Wars movie?"

"Oh, I'm not really into Star Wars, sorry. That's more of Dash's thing..."

"That's ok..."

"Have you heard about the Harry Potter spinoff though? I'm super excited for that."

"Oh, yeah, Harry Potter's cool. I might go check it out..."

Another silence.

"Actually, I remember going to see the last one with the gang a few years ago," Violet continued. She grinned as she spoke. "Wilbur and Astro were arguing over what was happening in the movie, and they kept making the rest of us take sides."

"Heh, really?"

"Yeah, Wilbur was getting real heated about it too," she giggled. "He kept saying stuff and being like 'Violet agrees with me, right Vi?' And I'd just say yes even though I didn't care about the conversation at all. And you know the worst part? I didn't even get to finish the movie, cause a mission came up right then. Sucks, huh? I really wanted to see how their argument would end."

Hiro nodded with a smile, but on the inside he was heaving a tired sigh. All their conversations were looping back to the subject of Wilbur Robinson and/or superpowers, that is if they weren't ending in abrupt silence. This was becoming a staple of their dates as of late, and it was getting...tiring.

Not to mention, they seemed to loop back to the subject of Wilbur Robinson _a lot_ , Hiro was noticing. She wasn't going on dates with him to talk about Wilbur, was she? That would just be weird.

Sharing stories about their superhero lives was fun, yeah, and even their other conversations were fun at times, but Hiro couldn't help but wonder why they were dating if all their conversations were either the same or came to a screeching halt.

Or heck, the fact that they even needed to _have_ a conversation all the time was a little irritating. When he was with his friends, they could be sitting around staring at the ceiling and there would be no awkwardness at all. Shouldn't it be the same, or more so, with someone he was dating? Was this something he could fix, or was it a warning sign that something wasn't working? Hiro had no idea, and it had been confusing him for a while.

Violet had stopped talking, and now they were just walking along, while Hiro had his hands in his pockets. She seemed to be lost in thought as well.

Hiro decided then to go to their fall-back topic once more. "So...does your baby brother sometimes transform into a monster when he's not supposed to? How do you keep that a secret?"

Violet looked up with a grateful smile. "Oh, yeah! He did that once, actually, but luckily we were able to change him back quickly. He doesn't usually fight with us, so I guess he feels the need to let loose sometimes-"

Hiro chuckled. "Well, I'm glad we don't have any babies on our team. Though Baymax kinda thinks like an innocent little kid, so I dunno if he counts..."

And so continued their talk, and Hiro made no effort to change the subject this time. It was obvious by now that trying anything else would just make things awkward. The question was, what did that mean? And what was he supposed to do about it?

* * *

After a couple days of stressing about it, Hiro finally decided to go get some advice.

He found Tadashi lounging around on the couch in the garage, reading something while listening to music. He didn't even seem to notice Hiro walking toward him, which made the boy worry that he might be bugging him. Hesitating for a second, Hiro walked over to his brother and tapped him lightly on the shoulder.

Tadashi looked up and removed one ear bud, smiling up at Hiro apologetically. "Hey, uh...sorry, did you say something?"

"No...are you busy?"

"A little, why?"

Hiro shrugged. "Just kinda wanted to talk..."

Tadashi thought for a moment, but when he noticed Hiro's distraught expression, he immediately tossed his book and headphones aside and sat up. "Well, I'm not _that_ busy," he said. "What's up?"

Hiro nodded gratefully at him and sat down on the couch as well. Sighing, the boy stared at his hands while he tried to put his concerns into words.

"So, it's about Violet..." He paused. "I...I don't really know how to put it, I just feel like something isn't working right."

"How come?"

"Like, when we hang out, I feel like we're not..." He stopped again, gesturing wildly with his hands, hoping Tadashi would somehow understand how he felt.

Tadashi just looked confused and imitated Hiro's gestures with a slight grin. "Gonna need a little more information there, bro."

Hiro sighed. "Ok, well...when you're with Honey Lemon, do you ever just...run out of things to talk about?"

"Yeah. All the time."

"Does it get awkward?"

Tadashi looked at him curiously and shook his head. "No...we don't have to be talking _all_ the time. We just like being together, enjoying the quiet moments."

"It's awkward with _us..._ " Hiro grumbled. "When we're talking about superhero missions and stuff, it's fine-constant babble, it never stops. But when we try to just joke around and hang out and talk about other things, it just feels...slow? Heavy? I don't know..."

"Ah, I see. So you feel like you two aren't really connecting."

"Yeah...yeah, that's it! A-and I've tried to fix it, she's tried to fix it, but...ugh."

Tadashi nodded slowly. "Hm. That is a problem. Lemme ask you something, Hiro. Do you like Violet?"

Hiro looked confused. "Yeah...I wouldn't be dating her if I didn't."

"Ok, but do you _really_ like her?"

Hiro paused. "Yeah...sure..."

"Cuz I've noticed that you're not really excited about dating her," Tadashi told him. "Whenever someone asks you about her, you just say, 'yeah, she's cool,' and not much else."

Hiro was quiet.

"I'm just saying," his older brother continued. "Most people would be a little more excited about dating someone, especially when the relationship is fairly new, like yours."

"Well, I mean...I _do_ like her. I was really happy when I first met her, and...well, I can't expect everything to be perfect all the time, right? Relationships take...work, don't they?"

"Of course they do. But there's no point if you don't actually like the person you're dating."

Hiro thought about this for a moment.

Tadashi shrugged. "But it's up to you, of course. If you really like her and think it could work, then you should call her and talk things out. But if you feel like it's...what did you say it was? Heavy?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's like...like we're not doing something right...I don't know how to explain it, it's just...I feel as if we're supposed to be working out, but I'm doing something wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"You know, when we first met, we just latched real quick on the fact that we're from allied superhero teams. It just seemed perfect, and everyone says it's so perfect, it's like..." He paused, looking for the right words. "It's like...it's like the whole universe was screaming at us to hook up, you know? We're both superheroes! We're both kind of...odd! We should be in love, right?"

Tadashi listened quietly for a second before sighing. "Listen, Hiro," he said gently. "There's no _'should.'_ There's nobody in this world that you _'should'_ like. If you don't like each other, then you don't like each other. And that's fine."

Hiro fell silent again. He really hated the idea of giving up at the first sign of a problem, but Tadashi had a point-if he wasn't connecting with Violet after all this time, did he really want to keep going?

"Oh, and..." Hiro began. "There's one more thing I forgot to mention. Wilbur Robinson."

"Who?" Tadashi asked.

"This other guy she hangs out with. The one from the cafe, remember?" Hiro scoffed. "She says he's just a friend but...yeah, I know she enjoys his company more than mine." He cracked a grin. "And the sad part is that I'm not even mad."

Tadashi leaned back in his seat. "Really? Well, that's no good..."

Hiro hesitated. "So...we should break up?"

"Go with your gut, Hiro. Do whatever you think you need to do."

The boy scoffed again. "Thanks for the ambiguity."

Tadashi chuckled. "Well, I can't exactly make your choice for you. But if you ask me, the fact that she might like another guy and you're not even concerned about it is kind of telling."

Hiro nodded slowly. "Yeah...I guess so." He sat there for a moment longer, before slowly standing up. "Anyway...thanks."

"Anytime, little bro. I'll be here if you need me."

Hiro smiled at his brother, and with that he wandered slowly out of the garage, deep in thought, until he eventually got to his room. He really hated the idea of splitting up. Who knows how long it would take him to find someone else that he would have so much in common with him...aside from GoGo...

 _Shut up, Hiro. You can't have GoGo and you know it.  
_  
But at the same time, he didn't want to have a girlfriend _just_ as an excuse to stay away from GoGo. Tadashi was right, he had to actually be into the person he was with. It was time to clean up his mess, but he wasn't looking forward to doing it.

Sighing, the boy sat down on his bed and pulled out his phone. He gulped, but quickly clicked on Violet's name.

There was ringing on the other end, as Hiro anxiously waited. Soon, Violet picked up.

 _"Hey Hiro!"_

"Uhh...hey Violet...what are you doing right now?"

 _"Right now? Uh, I'm actually at the park with some friends-ow! Hey, who pushed Riley?"  
_  
There were some voices in the background, and Hiro couldn't help but smile slightly when he heard Riley yelling about something.

 _"Who're you talking to, Vi?"_ a male voice on her end was asking.

 _"It's Hiro..."_ she paused for a moment, listening. _"Oh, uh, Hiro. Riley says you should come join us-we're near your place, actually."  
_  
 _"Come join us, dummyhead!"_ Riley yelled through Violet's phone. _"We're having fun!"  
_  
Hiro hesitated for a moment, and turned to look at his desk where his homework was lying around. His desk was overflowing with parts and notes for that robotics assignment that still wasn't done.

"...sure, I'll come," he said. "Just send me an address."

 _"Sweet! See you there!"  
_  
"Wait, Vi-!" But she'd already hung up. Hiro sighed and put his phone away. He'd just wanted to give her a heads up that he needed to talk to her, but it was ok, he could do that when he got there.

Hiro absentmindedly yelled a goodbye to Aunt Cass as he left, letting her know where he'd be, and headed over to the address that Violet had sent him. He had to admit that he was pretty nervous-he had no idea how he was going to break this to her. Looks like he'd have to wing it.

When he arrived he found the other kids sitting in a circle on the ground. Violet, Riley, Ted and Wilbur were the only ones there at the moment, and they all seemed to be focused on something in the middle of the circle. Hiro politely greeted the parents sitting nearby, before curiously walking over to the circle.

Riley saw him first. "Hiro!"

The rest of them looked up at this. Violet waved at him happily and made room for him to sit next to her. Hiro grinned sheepishly and sat down. "Hey. What are you guys doing?"

"Check this out," Ted said. His phone was on the ground for everyone to see, and a video of someone getting a pie tossed in their face was playing, making them all snicker.

Hiro forced a chuckle, but honestly, he had too much on his mind right now to laugh.

"Isn't there a version where the guy gets spray paint all over him?" Wilbur asked. "I remember seeing a video where he gets shot with paint by a bunch of people."

"That sounds painful," said Violet.

"It's not painful," Wilbur retorted. "My cousin Lazlo does it all the time. He'll spray you as soon as you walk through the door. I've lost plenty of clean shirts to him, but it never hurt."

Violet giggled. "That's because your cousin Lazlo is a weirdo."

"All my cousins are weirdos."

"Your whole family is full of weirdos."

Wilbur put a hand over his heart and pretended to be hurt. "Violet Parr, how _dare_ you say such a thing."

She giggled again. "Hey, _my_ family is full of weirdos too. You've met them."

Ted and Riley were talking about something as well, but Hiro stayed quiet and mostly focused on the banter between Violet and Wilbur. _Look at them. It's so easy for them. They can transition from talking about nonsense to talking about family just like that.  
_  
Oddly enough, despite his disappointment, he found himself smiling. She really did seem happier with Wilbur. It looked like he'd be doing the right thing after all.

The kids stayed like this for a while longer before their parents declared that it was time to leave. As they got up and said their goodbyes, Hiro placed a hand on Violet's shoulder, catching her attention.

"Hey, um...I need to talk to you."

Violet stared at him, frowning a bit at his expression. "O-okay..."

He pulled her aside, away from the others, and took a deep breath. How was he going to start this...?

"So, I..." he stammered. "I'm not sure how to put this. Violet, do you feel like...like we're just not...connecting?"

She frowned even further. "What do you mean?"

"You know...how we always get awkward when we're not talking, even though it's been like a month? And...you know...?" he paused, biting his lip.

She stared at him some more with an indecipherable expression. "Are you breaking up with me?" she asked at last.

Hiro gulped. "Y...yeah. Not that I don't like you-you're really nice! But, again, I just think it's not really working, like we're just not connecting, a-and then...you know, there's Wilbur..."

She gasped a bit. "Wait, this isn't about Wilbur, is it? I told you, we're just friends!"

Hiro winced. "Ok, but...you like him, don't you? You like him more than you like me."

"What do you mean? I like you just fine!"

"But...do you _like_ me?"

Violet paused at this, looking a bit distraught. "Well, yeah, you..." She looked away, at the rest of their friends, then back at Hiro.

Then she just sighed in defeat. "You're right." She admitted at last. "I'm sorry, Hiro..."

"No, don't be sorry," Hiro replied quickly. "I actually feel the same way."

"No, I mean...you're a nice guy, but also..." She stopped, looking really upset with herself, then sighed again. "Hiro, the truth is...you're the only person I can talk to about my powers...aside from my family..."

Hiro paused. "Oh," he whispered, finally understanding. Then, after a moment, he smiled gently at her. "Well...maybe that's all I am, then. Just the guy you can talk to about your powers. A fellow superhero."

She was quiet.

"And I'm sorry too," he continued. "I'm sorry I couldn't be more than that."

"Not your fault." She muttered. She looked upset, but relieved at the same time.

There was another pause, before she said, "So...I guess that's it?"

"Yeah," he sighed. Then he held out his hand in a fist, smiling. "See you on our next mission, Vi?"

She smiled back and gave him his fist bump. "See you."

And with that, they parted ways. Hiro took a breath of relief as he started heading home. That had gone much smoother than expected, thankfully. He was bummed, yeah, but...they would both be happier this way anyway...

He quietly entered his home and made it up to his room, lost in thought as he sat down and started playing with the objects on his desk.

"Hey, there you are," Tadashi's voice called out all of a sudden. Hiro hadn't even noticed his brother in the room, but now he was rolling right up to him in another chair.

"Where were you?" Tadashi asked.

"Uh. I met with Violet."

The older one looked surprised. "Wait, already? Well...what happened? How'd it go?"

Hiro shrugged. "Well, actually, it turns out she kinda felt the same way. So, you know. We split." He didn't look up as he spoke.

Tadashi nodded quietly. "Ah, ok then." Then he smiled again and gave Hiro a pat on the back. "Hey, don't get too down about it. Nobody gets it right the first time."

"Nah, I'm not even that upset," Hiro replied. "Not about Violet, anyway. Just kinda bummed that it didn't work."

"That's fine. I'm proud of you, actually-you were able to break it off before it got too messy."

Hiro scoffed. "Yeah, I guess. But well, now I'm back at square one with the whole dating thing."

"Hiro...you know you don't _have_ to be dating someone, right?"

"I won't! I mean, I won't date _anyone_ , I just...gotta find someone I connect with more."

"Exactly. But it doesn't have to be right away. Just let it happen naturally. Don't push yourself."

Hiro nodded, and the two brothers were quiet.

Then Tadashi smirked and spoke again. "Actually though, I was thinking...what about Riley?"

Hiro raised an eyebrow. "What _about_ Riley?"

"What about you and her?"

Hiro made a face. "What? Oh _God_ no. She's my _sister_."

"You know her mom ships you two, right?" Tadashi asked, still smirking.

"I don't care, that's not gonna happen."

"I kinda ship it."

" _Stop_ it, Tadashi!" Hiro exasperatedly pointed to himself. "Hello? Just broke up with someone over here! I don't need to deal with this!"

Tadashi snickered and ruffled his brother's hair. "Right, right. Sorry."

"Besides, I've got stuff to work on, you know?" He gestured to the stuff on his desk. "I'm too busy for this!"

"Wait, you went out when you still have homework?"

"Yes, I know, I'm horrible, now let me work."

Tadashi laughed, patting his brother on the back again as he got up. "Take it easy, ok, Hiro?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Tadashi."

As Tadashi went off somewhere else, Hiro rolled up to his desk and started working on that project once more. It still wasn't done, but...at least it was that much closer to working properly.


	6. ROUND 3: MARGO

ROUND 3: MARGO

"So, I've got an interesting opportunity for you."

Hiro looked up at his brother, a lollipop hanging idly from his mouth. "For me?"

Tadashi plopped down at the foot of Hiro's bed with a grin. "For both of us, actually," he replied. He handed him a tiny card, which Hiro looked at curiously. "Bumped into a lady on my way home who needed some help getting stuff to her car," he began. "We got into a conversation, and it turns out she knows about you."

Hiro raised an eyebrow. "How?"

"She just knew you were the boy genius at SFIT. I guess she may she have heard from someone who was at that showcase last fall." He shrugged. "Anyway, we talked a bit, and she said that she and her husband have some kind of tech startup company, and she's offering us summer internship."

Hiro listened to this and looked down at the card. _Lucy Wilde Gru_ , it read, along with a bunch of phone numbers. "Ok. Is it paid?"

"That's what she said. So, what do you think?"

Hiro shrugged. "I guess we could go check it out," he conceded. "I've got nothing better to do this summer."

* * *

It was a sweltering summer day when the brothers found themselves in the suburbs of San Fransokyo, staring up at a huge black house that was vastly different from those surrounding it. Hiro shaded his face from the sun, looking up in confusion as they walked up to the porch.

"You sure this is the right place?" he asked. "This just looks like someone's house."

Tadashi shrugged. "This is the address I got."

They rung the doorbell and glanced at each other uneasily, waiting.

There was some noise from inside, before the door opened slightly, revealing a tiny girl with black hair, holding a stuffed unicorn. She stared up at the boys, looking a little lost about what to do.

The brothers glanced at each other again, and then Tadashi waved down at the girl with a smile. "Hey there! Are your parents home?"

The tiny girl blinked, but then turned around and yelled into the house: "Luuuuuuuuucy! Some guys are here to seeeeeeeee you!"

"Oh!" a female voice answered from inside. "Hang on a second, I'll be right there!"

The tiny girl turned back to the newcomers, a small curious grin on her face. "She's coming." She rocked back and forth on her feet, studying them some more, before asking, "Who are you guys?"

"We're the new interns," Tadashi explained. "I'm Tadashi, and this is my brother Hiro."

The girl smiled widely. "I'm Agnes! And this is Princess Unicorn!" She held up the stuffed unicorn she was holding, making it wave hello to them with a giggle.

They chuckled at how cute she was, until a woman suddenly appeared behind her, and started to gently usher her off. "Ok, Agnes, that's enough. Go play with your sisters, ok?"

"Bye bye!" Agnes said to them, before running with her tiny feet back to the living room.

The woman, a thin, red-haired lady with a rather prominent nose, turned to them with a smile. "Sorry about that. Come on in, you two!"

Tadashi and Hiro stepped inside and took a moment to stare in awe at their surroundings. This house was huge.

"...so glad to have you two on board," the woman was saying. She then turned to Hiro with a smile. "And anyway, you must be Hiro! I've heard so much about you from your aunt and brother, it's great to finally meet you!"

Hiro shook her hand politely. "Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Gru."

"Just call me Lucy," she replied. "Anyway, follow me, the lab is this way-I'll show you what we'll be doing!"

They followed Lucy through the large hallways, listening to her ramble, when suddenly a strange projectile came flying their way.

"What the-?" Lucy said, before she rolled her eyes with exasperation and went to pick up the toy. "Edith, sweetie...no throwing things in the house, remember?"

Two girls made their way over to Lucy, one of them being a small blonde girl dressed in pink, while the other was a brunette around Hiro's age.

"Sorry," the blonde one grumbled. "Who are they?"

"New interns," Lucy replied, patting Hiro's shoulder happily. "Tadashi and Hiro, meet my other two daughters, Edith and Margo."

"Sup," said Edith.

"Sup," Hiro replied, imitating her gesture and making her laugh.

Margo said nothing, she just giggled along with her sister and stared down at her shoes.

"Are you guys headed to the lab?" Edith asked.

"Yep," said Lucy. "If you guys are going to follow us, just be careful-you know how protective your dad is of his experiments, _Edith_."

"Don't worry, the giant hand incident was a one-time thing," Edith replied with a roll of her eyes.

Tadashi and Hiro looked at each other curiously, then continued following Lucy with the two girls tagging along. Agnes had shown up to follow them as well. Lucy was talking about the projects they'd be working on and about how complex they were, while Hiro partially listened and checked out all the crazy decorations around the house.

At one point, his gaze landed on Margo, who was walking right next to him. He jumped a bit as he walked, a bit surprised. "Oh. Hey."

"Hey," Margo replied quietly, looking downward again. "Um, so...you're Hiro, right?"

"That's me."

"Lucy said that both the interns were college students," Edith piped up. "You're like a high schooler or something, right?"

"Nope, Hiro's in college too," Tadashi explained, ruffling his brother's hair proudly. "He's a genius."

"Whoa! Awesome!" Said Edith.

Margo's eyes seemed to sparkle a bit. "Yeah...awesome..."

Lucy pushed a button on a chair, and suddenly a giant blue tube ascended from the ground, making Agnes's giggle with delight. Tadashi and Hiro stepped back a little, but Lucy and the girls walked toward it like everything was normal.

Turns out the tube was just a giant elevator, and after they all stepped in, they descended. Hiro glanced up at his brother for a moment, but then all of a sudden, the lab appeared before them, and it was huge.

"Whoa!" The brothers exclaimed. Both of them went to press their faces against the glass as they continued going down, witnessing the machines and all the activity going on before them.

"Oh my god, is this your lab?" Hiro asked.

"Actually, the lab itself is at the very bottom," Lucy replied, happily observing their reaction.

"Holy crap," Tadashi whispered. "This makes our lab look pretty puny, huh, Hiro?"

"Tell me about it," said Hiro. "I can't wait to check this place out!"

"Just make sure you don't accidentally make one of the experiments float off into another dimension," Edith piped up. "Gru hates it when you do that."

Margo rolled her eyes. " _You_ did that, Edith."

"It was a one-time thing!"

The elevator slowed to a stop and they all stepped out, hearing the sounds of loud machinery as they went.

"Hang on for just a second," Lucy announced. "I'll just go grab my husband. Girls, don't run off anywhere!"

She dashed off through the giant lab, leaving the boys with her three daughters. Hiro continued staring with wide eyes at his surroundings, his excitement rising by the second.

Margo was standing next to him again, swaying her body shyly. "So, um...pretty cool, right?"

" _Totally_ cool!" Hiro practically yelled. "Man, I wish my lab was this big! What kinds of inventions has your dad made?"

"Ummm, well...I don't really know much about it, but...he has a freeze ray..."

"Awesome."

"And a lot of rockets and robots..."

" _Awesome_!"

She giggled at his enthusiasm.

"One time Gru flew a rocket to the moon!" Agnes cried, making the boys chuckle.

"He did?" Tadashi asked.

"Yeah! And then he shrunk the moon and brought it to earth! And it started rolling and round and chasing us! But then it went back to the sky."

The boys snickered at her story. "That's pretty cool," said Tadashi.

"Yeah! And one time he also..."

While Agnes continued to bombard Tadashi with her crazy stories, Hiro continued to check out the equipment, while Margo kept a close eye on him as he went.

After a few moments, Lucy returned, and with her was a large, bald, hunched over man. Hiro tried not to stare, but he couldn't help but wonder how a relatively good-looking woman like Lucy ended up with someone so...strange-looking. Love truly was a strange thing.

"Tadashi, Hiro, this is my husband, Gru."

"Hello there, new interns," the man began. He had a thick accent that Hiro couldn't recognize. "Very good to finally meet you." He then turned to the three girls. "Ok, girls, time to go, we're going to start working here."

The girls groaned in disappointment but did as they were told.

"Bye Hiro..." Margo said as she left.

Hiro briefly wondered why she wasn't also saying goodbye to Tadashi, but he shrugged it off. "Bye, Margo."

The girls quickly left the area, while Hiro and Tadashi followed Gru deeper into the lab. "Anyway," the man declared. "Let me show you what you will be working on!"

In a dramatic flash, Gru pulled out a huge blueprint and set it on the table before them, and with that, Hiro immediately set any other thoughts aside. It was time to begin.

* * *

It was about two weeks in that Hiro started to notice something odd. He was on a lunch break with Tadashi and was just about to leave the place when Margo suddenly popped up out of nowhere. She'd been doing that a lot.

"Hi Hiro," she greeted as he was leaving, clasping her hands behind her back shyly.

"Oh. Hey."

"What's up?"

"I'm...just going to lunch…" Hiro answered, confused.

"Oh," Margo replied, blushing. "Right, sorry. See you later."

He awkwardly waved goodbye to her and jogged outside, where Tadashi was waiting on his moped.

"So how does pizza sound?" Tadashi asked nonchalantly.

Hiro hopped on behind him and put on his helmet. "Fine," he replied. They took off, Hiro staying silent most of the ride as he was lost in thought.

"Hey, Tadashi," he asked as they arrived at a pizza place for lunch. "Question: if a girl goes out of her way to talk to you whenever she can, even if it's super awkward...does that mean she likes you?"

Tadashi chuckled. "Probably. You talking about Margo?"

"Uh, yeah. How did you know?"

"She's been flirting with you since day one, Hiro," his brother replied in amusement. "You're literally the last person to notice. Even her parents know about it at this point."

"Her _parents_ know?" Hiro asked in shock, "Tadashi, we're _working_ for them!"

"Don't worry, I've already talked to both of them about it," Tadashi replied. "As long as you're not making any moves on Margo, it should be fine,"

"Ok…" Hiro said slowly. "But what if Margo makes a move on me?"

"Then just tell her the truth. You can't be with her because she's the boss' daughter. I'm sure she'll get it."

Hiro nodded.

"And besides," Tadashi continued. "It's just for the summer anyway. If you like her, you'll be able to see her after we're done."

"Ummmm...I don't know. I haven't really talked to her." Truth be told, Hiro hadn't really thought about girls since he'd broken up with Violet several months ago. He had been thinking he'd start looking again, but...Margo...?

Tadashi shrugged. "Don't worry about it. It's not like you can do anything till the end of summer. Anyway, what kind of pizza do you want?"

* * *

Hiro was following Tadashi back to the lab when a flying projectile smacked him right in the face. "Ow!" he cried, rubbing his face in pain, as the three small girls ran over to them.

'You ok?" Tadashi asked.

Before Hiro could answer, the girls swarmed him.

"Oh, my gosh, are you ok?" Margo asked in concern. "I'm so sorry! Edith was just messing around, and-!"

"Hey, don't blame me for everything!"

Margo ignored her sister and stepped closer to Hiro, trying to inspect his head. "Here, lemme see..."

She was a bit too close for comfort and Hiro quickly ducked back. "No, it's fine..."

"Alright you three," Lucy declared, appearing in the living room. "Give the boy some space-are you ok, Hiro?"

"I'm fine," Hiro repeated, rubbing his face still. "Just a little bump in the face."

Lucy gave Edith a look, as if to scold her, then smiled at the boys once more. "Ok, that's good-you two can head down to the lab, I'll join you in a minute."

The boys quietly did as they were told, with Margo staring forlornly at Hiro as he left.

The brothers began riding the slow-moving elevator down to the lab, while Hiro was still rubbing his head.

Tadashi looked at him in concern. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"I'm fine," insisted Hiro. "...Though I guess I kinda wish Baymax was around right now."

Tadashi chuckled. "Hah, no way. If I brought Baymax here, those girls would go crazy."

"I bet Agnes would get a kick out of him," said Hiro. "You should totally bring him along sometime."

"I don't know. I feel like that would just complicate things."

Hiro scoffed. "Yeah, you're telling me about complications. That whole Margo thing is scaring me, to be honest. Seriously, you already talked to them about it?"

"You're fine, Hiro. Just focus on the work and you'll do ok."

"Alright, if you say so. I just hope this internship thing isn't more trouble than it's worth."

* * *

But Hiro, of course, loved to chase trouble.

It wasn't as if he was breaking any rules. He just wanted to talk to Margo and get to know the girl better. Tadashi kept asking if he liked her, but how was he supposed to answer that if he didn't know her?

So as it turned out, about two months into the summer, he finally got his chance to have a decent conversation with her. It was lunch time again, and Hiro just needed a quick bathroom break before leaving with Tadashi. On his way back, however, he ran into Margo, who was just wandering around alone for some reason.

"Oh! Hiro. Hi," she greeted. "I-I thought you would be at lunch right now."

Hiro shrugged, deciding that Tadashi could wait a couple more minutes. "I was just heading out. Uh...how's it going with you?"

Margo paused, surprised that he was actually trying to make conversation, but smiled widely. "U-um...I-it's good...heh. H-how...how's your work going?"

Hiro grinned. "Pretty good. We're actually pretty ahead of schedule. Your dad's a real great guy to work with-odd, but still great."

"Y-yeah, that's Gru, alright..."

"We had some problems with the transmitters on one of the machines, but I was able to fix it up. I only hope we'll be able to see it once it's done..."

"Hehe. Yeah," Margo sighed, obviously not understanding a word he was saying. "You must be real good with machinery and stuff..."

"Well, yeah, it's my life," Hiro replied with a shrug. "I finish working on bots and stuff here, I go home and work on some more. Never get tired of it."

"Wow," Margo giggled. "Th-that's amazing...I wish I was as smart as you."

Hiro blinked. "Ah, well...you know, everyone has their thing...anyway, my brother's waiting for me, so I'll see you later."

"Ok...bye..."

Hiro ducked out of the way and finally headed out the door, thinking. Margo seemed really...ah, what was the word?

Tadashi made an annoyed face at him when he arrived. "What took you so long?"

"Sorry...I was just talking to Margo."

"To Margo? Really?"

"Yeah, uh...I'll tell you about it on the way."

Tadashi waited for Hiro to get on the moped and took off, while Hiro tried to get his thoughts into words.

"So what happened?" Tadashi asked curiously.

"I bumped into her in the hall and we just talked for a bit," said Hiro. "She's really...uh... _fangirly_."

"What?" Tadashi chuckled. "What do you mean fangirly? Was she screaming at you the whole time or something?"

"No, not that kind...she's more like the sigh-and-swoon type. Every time I said something, it was like she didn't understand a thing and just made some goo-goo eyes at me."

Tadashi laughed. "I see. So, not your type, then."

" _Definitely_ not my type." Hiro frowned. "But I don't know how to tell her that. I don't wanna hurt her feelings."

"End of summer, bro." Tadashi reminded him. "You've still got like three weeks."

"Alrighty, I've got three weeks to plan my rejection. Awesome." He rolled his eyes, but decided to let it go for now.

* * *

Hiro felt that he'd done a good job this summer. Really. He'd gotten his first job done, he'd gotten to work alongside his brother and other geniuses and help develop an invention that would benefit humanity. There was just one teensy tiny problem: Margo was still obsessed with him.

But that would end today. As he gathered his stuff up to leave for the last time, Hiro mulled over what he would say. Maybe he'd be able to slip past Margo as he left, and wouldn't have to deal with her again. At the same time though, it felt wrong to just run off and leave her behind.

Before he could come to a conclusion though, Gru and Lucy appeared to say their final farewells.

"Hiro!" Lucy greeted affectionately. She gave him a huge hug and smiled at him happily. "Thank you so much for everything, you've been amazing."

"You've been amazing too," Hiro replied politely. "It was great to work with both of you."

"Here," Gru said, handing the boy a check. "This is yours. You've been a big help. I admit, I had my doubts when I first saw you, but you're incredibly talented."

"You wouldn't mind coming back next year, would you?" Lucy asked. "We'd love to have you and Tadashi back...where is Tadashi, anyway?"

"Uhhh, I don't know." said Hiro, shrugging. "But we'll see about that. Anyway, thanks again."

He started on his way out of the house, but Gru stopped him again. "Wait, one more thing...ahem, about Margo."

Hiro froze. Gru's expression had hardened all of a sudden, making the boy go pale. "U-uh…"

" Gru!" Lucy scolded. "I thought we said we wouldn't bug him about that."

"Hey, I didn't say anything!" Gru defended. "I'm just asking a question!" He cleared his throat and turned back to Hiro. " Now, you haven't done anything wrong, but now you're not working for me anymore. So, as her father, I need to know what your intentions are."

Hiro gulped, staring up at his calculating face, and Lucy's apologetic expression.

Then he sighed. "I...intend to leave, Mr. Gru."

The couple glanced at each other, slightly surprised by this answer, but took the hint and smiled. Gru especially looked relieved. "Ah, I see. The man said. Sorry to bother you then. See you next summer?"

Hiro smiled. "Sure, maybe. See ya."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Hiro finally headed for the door once more, but his troubles weren't over just yet. Just as he was wondering where the heck his brother has disappeared to, he turned a corner and there she was. Margo was leaning against the wall, and Hiro nearly crashed right into her.

"Gah! Oh. S-sorry, Margo. You scared me."

"Sorry," she replied with a glare.

Hiro blinked in confusion, but shrugged. "Anyway, I guess I'll be going. See you around…?"

"No need," she snapped. "You intend to leave, right? So just go."

Hiro winced. She wasn't even stuttering anymore. "Margo...I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to find out like this."

She said nothing.

"Margo...I think you're really sweet, honestly. But you're just...not my type. A-and I promise I meant to tell you directly…"

He trailed off, and she stared at him again, looking like she was legitimately going to cry. Then she just sighed and looked away.

"It's okay," she said quietly. "I'm...sorry for wasting your time."

Margo began to walk away from him sadly, and Hiro watched her go, feeling guilty. "Uh, maybe we can still be...friends?" he called after her. But honestly, the question sounded dumb even to him.

She paused for a moment and looked back at him, making her answer clear. Hiro sighed, and turned to leave once more. "Right. Sorry, Margo. I'll see you around…"

He briskly walked away as fast as he could, upset at home the exchange had went but relieved to be leaving the whole mess behind. As he go closer to the door, he heard loud voices coming from outside and briefly wondered what was going on…

...and then he groaned in disbelief. "You're kidding me. You _actually_ brought Baymax?"

"Hello, Hiro," Baymax replied politely, sitting down on the lawn while Edith and Agnes climbed all over him.

Tadashi was standing nearby, supervising. He laughed, "What? It's the last day. Figured I'd let them have some fun with him."

"Please do not climb on my head," Baymax was telling Agnes, as he gently removed her from his head. "It is quite dangerous."

Hiro ignored the antics going on and just rolled his eyes. "Right….anyway, I think it's time to go."

Tadashi looked confused for a moment, then noticed Hiro's face and nodded. "Ok, guys!" He called. "Baymax has to go now."

"Awwwwww…." Agnes groaned.

"You guys are coming back, right?" asked Edith. "You're not leaving forever, are you?"

"Well, we'll have to see about that," Tadashi answered. "But you'll have to say goodbye to Baymax for now."

"Bye Baymax," Agnes said sadly, giving him a big hug. Edith joined in.

Hiro sighed impatiently.

Baymax walked over, still carrying the two girls in his arms. "Hiro. It appears that you are: sad. Would you like to join the hug?"

"Uh-"

"Group hug!" called Agnes. And soon Hiro found himself squashed with everyone else in Baymax's marshmallow arms.

"Ok, Baymax, we're satisfied with our care," Tadashi told him. "See you soon, girls."

"Byyyyye!"

Tadashi picked up the now-shrunken Baymax case and placed it in his moped. Hiro hopped on, and soon the two took off for home, that giant black house disappearing into the distance one last time.

"So, what's up?" Tadashi asked at last. "Why are you so upset?"

Hiro sighed. "Well, I had to turn down Margo, finally…" he replied. "It went...less than ideal."

His brother winced. "Sorry about that, little bro. It happens."

"Yeah, but she got so upset," Hiro replied sadly. "And the sucky part is that we can't even be friends now."

"Yeah, that happens too." said Tadashi. "Dating and romance can be pretty dicey."

"Yeah…" Hiro replied. He was quiet for a moment, thinking over the whole thing. Margo had been pretty desperate, sure, but he wouldn't have minded being her friend. The idea that something like this could ruin a friendship bugged him. A lot. And something inside of him deep down was frightened that GoGo saw him the same way that he'd seen Margo…

"Anyway, cheer up," Tadashi was saying. "She'll be okay. You've got other things to focus on, like how we start school in a week."

Hiro groaned. "Really? We move from one depressing subject to another? What's wrong with you?"

"What, we'll be back in the lab! That's not depressing, that's fun!"

"We've _been_ in a lab all _summer_!"

Tadashi chuckled. Hiro was complaining, sure, but at least he'd managed to get his brother's mind off his guilt for the time being. Something told him this wouldn't be the last time things went sour for Hiro.


	7. ROUND 4: PENNY

ROUND 4: PENNY

"Hiro!"

Hiro nearly fell out of his seat in shock when Riley appeared in the garage out of nowhere and started screaming in his ear.

"Riley!" he hissed. "It's eight in the morning, what are you doing here?"

"I needed to ask you something!"

"Now?"

"Well, yeah, because we have to do it today cause Penny's busy for the next week, and I wanted to give you some time to get ready..."

Hiro put up his hands to stop her. "Whoa, hold on, Riley. What are you talking about?"

"Oh, sorry!" Riley replied with a grin. "My friend Penny and I are running a blog! And we want to interview you!"

"Interview? Me? Why?"

"Because you're famous!" Riley cried. "We really want you on our blog! Please?"

Hiro sighed and turned to grab something on his desk. "Unbelievable," he murmured. "She turns 13 and the first thing she does is try to get Internet famous, and she's using me to do it...also, couldn't you just call me or something?"

Riley frowned in realization. "...oh. Well, it doesn't matter, I'm here now! So will you do it?"

Hiro frowned at her.

"Pleeeeease?"

"Will it make you stop bugging me?"

"Yes."

"Fine."

"Yeah! Thanks so much, Hiro!" She gave him a quick hug, and quickly pulled out her phone. "I just need to text Penny about it, and we'll be set!"

"Why not just go over to her house? That seems way easier."

"Hardy har," Riley groaned. "By the way, have you ever even met Penny?"

Hiro shook his head. "Nope. Is she one of your school friends?"

"Yeah. But she's busy a lot for some reason, so she's not really around a lot-but don't worry, she's still doing the blog with me! She'll be here in a few hours."

Hiro sighed. "Okay. Just make sure it's quick."

At that moment, Tadashi showed up in the garage. "Riley, what are you doing here? It's eight in the morning!"

"I'm _sorry_ , okay?"

* * *

Riley stayed for breakfast that day, and, having nothing better to do, hung around the boys while they were working as she anxiously awaited Penny to arrive.

"Yeah, I gave you the right address," the girl said into her phone. "Yeah...yeah, it's the cafe. Just go around and find the garage." She listened for a moment, then turned to Hiro. "Hang on, I'll be right back."

Hiro rolled his eyes and continued sitting there at his chair, dressed normally despite Riley's annoyance, and waiting for them to get their little interview done. Riley disappeared for a bit, then came back, breathlessly smiling and leading a red-haired girl by the hand to the garage.

Hiro assumed this was Penny. She looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't figure out where he'd seen her before...

"Phew! Ok," Riley began. "Hiro, this is Penny. Penny this is Hiro."

"Hi," Penny greeted politely, shaking his hand. Hiro nodded back at her, while Riley ran around to get things started.

"Ok, so...Penny, do you wanna hold the camera or me?"

Penny shrugged. "Anything works for me."

"Hiro, what do you think?"

"I think Penny should go outside and film some establishing shots first," Hiro joked. "You know, set the mood a little."

Penny raised an eyebrow. "Establishing shots? It's not a movie..."

Riley rolled her eyes. "No, he's just trying to bug me," she said. "Anyway, I guess I'll interview him since I know him better. Maybe you can...sit over there and film it?"

Penny nodded and did as she was told, trying to find a good angle to film at while Riley sat down next to Hiro.

"Ok, look alive, will you?" Riley teased him.

"What do you mean?" he replied. "I'm as lively as ever."

Riley rolled her eyes and grinned at the camera, just as Penny signaled them to start.

"Hi, Internet!" Riley greeted happily. "I'm Riley Andersen, and I'm here with my good friend, the fifteen-year-old boy genius from San Fransokyo: Hiro Hamada! How are you, Hiro?"

Hiro shrugged. "Fine."

Riley blinked at this answer, slightly dissatisfied, but continued. "Ok...anyway, I understand that you got into college when you were fourteen, is that true?"

"Yep."

"Aaaaand, how'd you do that?"

Hiro shrugged. "I'm just pretty awesome, I guess." He smirked at Riley's annoyed reaction.

"Hiro! Come on, be serious!" she yelled in annoyance, prompting Penny to turn of the camera.

"Alright, ok. I'm sorry, keep going."

Penny started filming again.

"Hi Internet!" Riley began again. "I'm Riley Andersen, and I'm hefe-no, In here wif the with...wait, shoot."

Hiro snickered as Riley tripped over her words. "You're here wif the with?"

Riley rolled her eyes. "Ah, never mind. Penny's more used to being in front of the camera anyways, and you won't make fun of _her_." She stuck her tongue out at Hiro, who smirked a little, and switched places with Penny.

Hiro shuffled uncomfortably in his seat as Penny sat down next to him. _Damn you, Riley._ She knew Hiro wouldn't be as much of a jokester with someone he didn't know as well. She'd figured out how to make him take this seriously, and he'd just let her do it.

They began again.

"So, Hiro," Penny started with a sort of rehearsed smile. "Can you tell us about how you got into college at such a young age?"

Hiro shrugged. "Ah, I mean...I just kept skipping grades when I was younger, that's all. The social life was kinda...bad, but I had absolutely no trouble with the academia. I graduated high school at thirteen with no problem."

Riley grinned, glad that Hiro was finally being polite, when Tadashi suddenly appeared and started making his way over.

In a panic, Riley signaled for the older boy to stop, but he didn't see her. Stepping into the garage, he stopped for a moment, observed the scene, and then said: "Hey, wait a second...isn't that Penny from _Bolt_?"

Hiro stopped talking. In surprise, he looked over at the girl next to him, studying her wide-eyed face, and _finally_ realized where he'd seen her before.

" _OH MY GOD_!" he practically screamed, pointing hysterically at the poor girl. "Oh my gosh, Tadashi, you're right! Holy crap, how did I not notice...?!"

Riley rolled her eyes with a groan and turned off the camera. "Aw, come on, Tadashi," she whined. "You ruined the interview."

Tadashi looked at her apologetically. "Interview? Oh gee, sorry...wait, who are you interviewing? Hiro? Or Penny?"

"Hiro..."

Hiro paid them no mind, just kinda jumped out of his seat to take a closer look at poor Penny. "Wait...are you actually the girl from _Bolt_?"

Penny smiled sheepishly. "Uh, yep...that's me."

"Holy crud, I can't believe it! Riley, what are you interviewing _me_ for? You've got your famous person right here!"

"She's trying to keep a low profile, duh!" Riley answered. "We had to find some other famous person..."

"Sorry for the outburst," Tadashi chuckled, turning to Penny. "We used to watch your show a lot during the earlier seasons; Hiro even had a huge crush on your character, if I remember correctly."

"Hey, shush!" snapped Hiro, turning slightly pink. "That was a long time ago. Either way, it's really great to actually meet you!"

Penny laughed. "Nice to meet you too."

"But I heard you quit a while ago, huh?" Hiro continued rambling. "That's rough. But you still have your dog, right?"

"Of course! Bolt's been with me since he was a puppy!"

"Man, you guys were always so cool. I remember freaking out whenever there was some action happening onscreen. Remember that, Tadashi?"

"Yep," Tadashi mused. "You used to sit glued to the TV. Every time Penny and Bolt escaped from an explosion, he screamed. My ears are still ringing."

Penny giggled, a little embarrassed by the attention. "Well, they were _fake_ explosions, but...thanks."

"Still, though!" Hiro squealed. "You guys were so cool, I loved that show."

"Hello!" Riley interrupted at last. "Can we at least finish filming first?"

"Oh," Hiro responded apologetically. "Sorry, Riley...yeah, we can finish."

They started again, and Hiro was definitely more into it this time. Heck, it was more of a conversation than an interview, with Hiro rambling on while Penny gave some polite chuckles here and there. Tadashi just sat back and observed, and Riley happily held the camera.

"Wow, look at them," Riley whispered, making sure not to pollute the sound of the video. "All our followers are gonna be shipping them when this is done,"

Tadashi raised an eyebrow. "Followers? You're posting this online?"

"Yeah, on my blog."

"But you said Penny's trying to keep a low profile," Tadashi observed. "Why would you post videos of her online?"

Riley stared back, wide-eyed, then slapped her forehead. "Arrrggh, dang it!" she yelled. "Cut! Penny, we're going to have to switch places again!"

* * *

It was about an hour later when they finally got some decent footage for Riley and Penny's blog. By that point it was lunch time, and all of Hiro and Tadashi's college buddies had arrived to behold the scene for themselves.

"So wait, Hiro was being interviewed by a _movie star_?" Fred asked as he munched on his sandwich in the cafe. "Holy crap, Hiro! I didn't know you'd reached _that_ level of famous."

Hiro blushed and looked down in embarrassment, while Penny just chuckled.

"I'm not a movie star anymore," she said sheepishly. "I'm just the normal, average camera girl for Riley and my's blog."

"We're gonna become so popular once this is uploaded," Riley said excitedly.

They all chuckled, and Penny soon got up to leave.

"Alright, I'll leave you to the computer stuff, Riley," the girl declared. "I actually have to go. My cats are due for some shots, and I promised my mom I'd take them."

"Aww, see you soon, Penny!" Honey Lemon called after her. "It was real great to meet you!"

"Thanks guys! Bye!"

Penny waved goodbye and started to head for the door. Meanwhile, Tadashi gave Hiro an amused look.

"She's leaving," Tadashi told his younger brother matter-of-factly.

Hiro frowned. "Uh...yeah, so?"

"So, you're just going to let your childhood hero-slash-celebrity crush just walk out the door? You might not see her again."

Hiro's eyes widened and he found himself glancing at GoGo for some reason. The girl wasn't even paying attention to him, and Hiro suddenly remembered what he'd been trying to do to get over her this whole time.

He quickly jumped out of his chair, catching everyone's attention, and followed Penny to the door. "Penny, hold on!"

She stopped at the door, confused, but grinned at him. "Uhhh, what's up, Hiro?"

Hiro stopped, realizing again that he hadn't planned on what to say. Why did this keep happening?

"Uhhh...I just...wanted to see if maybe you wanted to hang out sometime."

"Wow," GoGo said from the back, hearing this. "Right to the point, I see."

"Hiro doesn't waste any time," Wasabi chuckled.

Hiro flushed, mentally smacking himself, and tried again. "Sorry. I know we just met, and maybe I'm still a little starstruck, but..."

Penny seemed surprised but laughed, interrupting him. "Sure, I don't mind. When?"

"Uh...well, Riley said you were busy all week, so maybe next weekend? I'll text you."

"Sounds good to me. See you."

She waved goodbye once more and left. Hiro grinned to himself, and happily walked back to the table. It had been a while since he's gone out with a girl, but hey, maybe this would work.

"Wow," Riley said with a roll of her eyes as Hiro sat down. "You literally just met her and you already asked her out. You're such a ladies' man, Hiro."

Fred nearly choked on his drink. "Pfffff, what?"

The rest of them burst out laughing.

"Hiro?" Wasabi laughed. " _Our_ Hiro? A ladies' man? Naaaah,"

"Hey, you'd be surprised, Wasabi," Tadashi chuckled. "This is like, what, the fourth girl who's liked you in the past year, Hiro? Impressive."

Hiro rolled his eyes. "Vanellope doesn't count." He turned back to Riley. "Real funny."

Riley just shrugged nonchalantly and went back to her lunch.

Hiro picked at his own food while his friends continued joking. He glanced over at GoGo again, who had finished laughing, and was quiet as usual.

She noticed him looking and smirked. "A movie star, huh?" she asked him. "Good luck."

"Y-yeah...thanks."

A movie star. An action hero. His celebrity crush...if this didn't work, Hiro didn't know what would.

* * *

Hiro really hadn't known what an action star like Penny would want on a first date, so he decided to take the neutral route and take her to a movie.

Of course, they both enjoyed a good action flick, but at one point Penny leaned over to him and snickered, "I can see the mic they used for this scene."

Hiro laughed as well, but it was little harder to enjoy the movie now that Penny had made half of it seem so... _fake_.

After the movie, though, things got a little better. They were wandering along aimlessly, perhaps looking for a decent place to eat lunch, while making some small talk along the way.

"...Yeah, we weren't expecting a sudden litter of kittens in the house," Penny was saying, talking about her pets. "But I guess Mittens was wooed by a handsome cat from the neighborhood, and next thing you know, bam. Kittens."

Hiro snorted. "Geez. I'm glad we don't let Mochi out of the house."

It was quiet for a second, and Hiro quickly fished for another thing to talk about. "So, I'm curious: how did Bolt perform so well when you were on your show? Did you train him?"

Penny rolled her eyes in disgust. "Oh, we trained him alright-in the worst way possible. He thought the whole thing was real."

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah. It was actually the worst now that I think about it. He practically went through panic attacks every day because he thought I was actually in danger."

Hiro grimaced. "That sucks."

Penny nodded. "Yeah. But I'm glad it's over now. We're living a normal life-no more drama, no more action."

She smiled at the sky while Hiro stared back in confusion. "Huh. That makes sense, I guess…"

"I mean, I guess _some_ of it was real," Penny mused. "I had to learn a bunch of stunts and fight moves and stuff, which was pretty cool. But it was all choreographed-I don't know if I'd be able to do well in a _real_ fight." She giggled.

Hiro laughed as well. "Yeah...so you've never seen much action outside the studio, have you?"

Penny smiled. "Nope. Why? Have _you_?" She snickered.

 _Yes. I'm a superhero who saves the city on a regular basis. I've seen tons of action. I've nearly died several times_. "Uhhh, no. I really haven't."

Before he could wonder any more about the topic, Hiro spotted his favorite burger place and grinned. "Oh, hey! You hungry? Maybe we could go eat there."

Penny shrugged. "Sure, if you want."

Hiro blinked, but satisfied with her answer, he led her to the place and went inside. While they waited in line, she talked a little more about her pets and some other things she liked to do (mostly normal stuff like watching movies and riding on her not-techy-upgraded scooter), when it finally came time for them to order.

"What are you gonna get?" he asked her.

She shrugged. "Dunno. What are you getting?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Uhhh...just a regular burger and fries, I guess."

"Ok. Me too."

For some reason Hiro was surprised by this, but he couldn't quite figure out why.

After he paid for their food, they sat down and continued talking.

"Anyway," I don't know much about you," she finally said. "What do you like to do for fun, Hiro?"

"Oh, sorry," Hiro replied sheepishly. "Guess I got so caught up in talking about your show...uh, me? I like to work with robots."

"Ooh, cool."

"Yeah, I used to make them for bot-fights, but I don't do that anymore. Now I just make them for school and to help out with stuff-though I still make them fight each other, mind you, just not illegally." He snickered, and Penny gave a curt laugh.

"Bot-fights, huh?" she mused. "Don't think I'd be able to handle something like that. Way too many creepy people."

"Yeah, but that was a long time ago. I just did it for the rush."

Penny nodded slowly, probably thinking about something else. "Hmmmm, yeah. The rush. I got that a lot on set. It was pretty fun.'

Hiro smirked. "I know. It _is_ pretty fun. Which is why I'm surprised that you don't see much action offscreen-seriously, you're like an action star, right? I bet you did _some_ crazy stuff outside of the set."

Penny's expression changed a bit as she studied him, and she seemed to be speaking more carefully. "You mean aside from a lot of scooter tricks? No, not really…"

Hiro was once again surprised. Why was she so...confusing?

"Yeah, I'm not really like my character on the show," she chuckled, glancing at him almost deliberately. "She was this crazy daredevil who chased danger and stuff. But I'm happy to stay at home with my friends and my pets."

Hiro felt himself frowning. "Oh...yeah. Of course, none of that was real, but...I thought you were _kinda_ into that, at least."

"Nope," she grinned, staring him in the eye. "I like action, but not in real life."

"So, then...you're really not much of an _action_ star, are you?"

Penny giggled. "Well, sure. But I'm more of just a very versatile actress. I can play any role. But that spy girl you saw on TV doesn't actually exist."

Hiro just stared back in shock. He had felt a different vibe from Penny all day than what he'd seen from her on TV, but...only now did he realize why. The girl he had a crush on didn't exist. This was just an actress. A normal girl. With _him_ , an _actual_ superhero.

If there was an English word to describe how much Hiro's interest _plummeted_ at that exact moment, he didn't know what it was.

 _Of course she's just an actress._ He thought angrily. _What was I thinking? I walked right into this date expecting her to be an action hero, like me, or Violet, or...or GoGo_. His blood ran cold as the thought occurred to him. _Yeah, that's it...I thought she was badass, and serious, and tech-savvy, like GoGo. Oh God, please no…_

"GoGo?" Penny asked in confusion.

Hiro froze. "H-huh? What about GoGo?"

"You were murmuring," Penny smirked. "You said something about GoGo."

Hiro felt himself turn red. He'd said that out loud? Had she heard the part about him being a hero? Crap!

"I-I, uh...I'm sorry, Penny. I guess for some reason I thought you were...kinda like your character…I just, I've met actual people who are kinda like that, so I guess you being an actress didn't stop me from...uh, thinking that…"

"Are you disappointed?" she asked gently.

Hiro paused. "...I'm really sorry," he replied quietly.

"It's ok," she sighed. "It's not like this is the first time; that's why I was being so straightforward about this. A boy sees me, thinks I'm some kick-butt spy because of my role, and they he finds out I'm just an average girl and he loses interest. Tale as old as time."

Hiro winced at this. Sounds like she'd been through this ordeal before, and he was just another on her list of disappointments. He said nothing for a few moments.

"It's not your fault, though," she assured him. "I'm just glad we were able to nip it in the bud."

Hiro gave a sad smile. "Yeah...but I have to give you credit, Penny...you're a damn good actress."

She looked surprised, but then genuinely laughed. "Thank you, Hiro. That's really sweet."

"No problem...and you do seem nice, honest. But I think...you're not really my type…"

"I know. You seem to be living life at your own pace anyway, Mr. _I've-met-real-life-action-heroes._ I don't think I'd be able to keep up."

Hiro snorted.

"I did have fun, though."

"Me too…"

It was quiet as they finished their lunch, and soon the two teenagers headed out the door. Hiro thought for a moment, then tapped the girl on the shoulder before she left.

"Hang on, Penny," he said. "Uh, can I maybe...still have your autograph?"

Penny stared at him for a moment, then laughed. "Ahhh, sure. I guess that part of it doesn't really go away."

Hiro pulled out a random piece of paper and a pen he just had in his pocket, and Penny took a few moments to write a note. Then she handed it back to him with a smile. "I'll see you around!" she said, and then left at last.

Hiro waved to her, but lingered there with a sigh. Well, that had been a total disappointment. But he felt like this time it had been entirely his fault...screw him for jumping to conclusions like that. At least nobody was hurt this time.

Slowly starting his walk back home, Hiro finally looked at the note Penny had written him:

 _Hiro,_

 _I'm real sorry things didn't work out between us, but I still had fun! You seem like a really nice person and I wish you the best. I hope you meet a real life action hero that sweeps you off your feet-and good luck with GoGo!_

 _Signed,_

 _Penny Forrester_

Hiro couldn't help but let out a groan. "Good luck with GoGo?" Jeez, even his own _date_ was teasing him about it now!

* * *

Tadashi looked up as Hiro walked into the room, tossing the note on his desk with a sigh.

"So how'd it go?" The older one asked with a grin.

Hiro sat down and shrugged. "Uh, well...I got her autograph."

"What?" Tadashi chuckled. "You don't go out with a girl just to get an autograph. What happened?"

Hiro shrugged, trying to figure out how to explain it. "Well, she's...a nice girl. Really down to earth, not a snobby movie star or anything. But...I dunno, she's kind of underwhelming. I went in expecting one thing and got something else entirely."

Tadashi raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"She's an actress, Tadashi. She plays a lot of roles..."

He looked up, but Tadashi didn't quite get the hint.

"...and none of them are real."

Tadashi then nodded in realization. "Ohhh. Yeah, that's the danger of liking a celebrity; you don't actually know them."

Hiro nodded and started spinning idly in his chair. "Yeah...I mean, nothing bad happened, at least, but it definitely didn't work." He sighed. "It sucks, though. I thought that if anyone would help me get over my obsessive crush, it would be my celebrity crush! But no...and the sad part is, I only ever liked her when I thought she was like GoGo."

Tadashi burst into a fit of chuckles at this.

Hiro frowned. "What?"

"Nothing, sorry. But look on the bright side: now you know _exactly_ what you're looking for." He walked over and placed a hand on Hiro's shoulder, smiling at him encouragingly. "You're an extraordinary kid, Hiro. You need someone who's just as extraordinary... _for real._ And I can't imagine there isn't _one_ girl your age who's like that."

Hiro frowned and nodded slowly. "Yeah...you're probably right. Thanks."

"No problem," Tadashi replied, patting the boy's shoulder once more. "You'll be okay, I promise. Just don't give up."

He then stood back and stretched. "Anyway, Aunt Cass needs some help downstairs. Come on."

Hiro said nothing and simply followed his brother out the door. He was still lost in thought and frowned.

Tadashi had a good point, as usual, but Hiro didn't really like where this was headed. After all, if all he wanted was someone who was just like GoGo, then he'd just _fricking_ date GoGo!


	8. ROUND 5: RILEY

ROUND 5: RILEY

"I'm bored."

Hiro looked up from his tablet and raised an eyebrow. "Uh...sorry about that...?"

Riley pouted and rested her head on the table. "You're boring."

Hiro sighed. "Well, what do you want me to do, Riley? Get up and dance for you?"

She grinned. "That would be hilarious, actually."

Hiro snorted and rolled his eyes, staring at his tablet in annoyance. "Sorry Riley, but I can't hang out right now. I've got work to do. If you're bored, you can just go home."

Riley sighed. "But...home is even more boring. My parents don't come home until later."

Hiro looked up in annoyance at the girl sitting next to him. "Look, I'm _sorry_ , alright?" he snapped. "Riley, do you see what I'm doing right now? I've got tons of stuff to finish tonight! Please quit bugging me!"

Riley seemed surprised at this outburst, but after a moment she rolled her chair back and stood up. "Fine," she grumbled. She was about to leave the garage, when Baymax suddenly waddled over, catching her attention.

"Hiro," the white robot greeted.

"What is it, Baymax?" The boy grumbled.

"You seem to be distressed. What seems to be the trouble?"

"I'm fine."

"I am detecting signs of work-induced stress." Baymax continued unfettered. "You seem to be exhibiting certain symptoms, such as: agitation, increased sweating, and headaches. I suggest that you should: take a break."

"I don't need a break," Hiro groaned. "I can't waste any time, this needs to get done."

"Hiro, you have been working for the past: four hours. Prolonged amounts of stress can be dangerous for your mental health."

Hiro took a deep breath through his nose. He knew Baymax meant well, but he always popped up at some of the worst times. And it didn't help that Riley was still there staring him down.

"Come on, Hiro, he has a point," Riley said with a grin. "You should take a break for a bit-hey, I have an idea! We could go to the park! It's really nice out!"

"No..." Hiro grumbled. But Baymax and Riley kept giving him those stupid stares, and to be honest his work was starting to get annoying even to look at, so maybe they had a point.

He sighed. "Fine. But just for a little bit, okay?"

"Yeah!" Riley cheered. "Thanks Baymax, we're satisfied with our care now."

Baymax began to waddle away, while Riley grabbed Hiro's hand and led the reluctant boy out of the garage. Hiro said goodbye to Aunt Cass as they passed her, and tried to get rid of his current headache as he went.

The park was fairly close to the cafe, and Riley was happily chatting away as they walked. Hiro yawned a bit, but he had to admit the walk and the breeze were soothing.

When they arrived at the park, Riley started releasing all her energy like the kid she was, hopping around on all the stepping stones and dragging Hiro behind her. Sheesh, she really _had_ been bored.

Finally, she stopped by a tiny stream and crouched down. "Whooooa, Hiro! Check this out!" She scooped up some water in her hands as Hiro curiously walked over. "Look what I found in the water!"

Hiro leaned over to look at her hands...and Riley squirted some water in his face.

She laughed, as Hiro groaned and wiped his face. "I can't believe you fell for that one!"

"Real funny, Riley," Hiro replied. "Grow up, will you?"

"No."

Hiro rolled his eyes, then frowned. "Oh, what's that? I think you got some water on your shirt..."

He pointed at her collarbone, prompting Riley to look down and allowing him to cheekily flick her in the nose.

"Ow!" Riley cried. She gave Hiro a push while the boy laughed triumphantly.

They eventually ended up sitting on a bench, with Riley kicking her feet up and down as she pulled out her phone. "Hey, have you seen that one vine yet? The one with the guy falling off his skateboard and screaming like a girl..."

"Why are you always on your phone?" Hiro asked with a smirk. "Did you drag me all the way here to look at your phone?"

Riley rolled her eyes by smirked back. "Oh, sorry, _Mom_. What do _you_ want to do?"

Hiro made an exaggerated gesture to their surroundings. "Enjoy the outdoors! Become one with nature! Find inner peace or something, I don't know."

Riley laughed. "Ok, fine, let's look at the clouds! Like that one!" She pointed to a cloud in the sky. "That one looks like a nerd! I think I'll name it Hiro!"

"Yeah? Well, that one looks like a big baby. I'll name it Riley."

"I'm not a baby!"

"Yes you are."

"Am not!"

"Riley, come on," Hiro snickered. "You're a teenager now, shouldn't you be a little more...I dunno, mature?"

"Oh, sorry. What's a teenager _supposed_ to act like?"

Hiro shrugged. "I dunno, like...you know,"

Riley snickered. "Pfff, ok. I guess I'll act like you then," she stood up, put on a serious face, and proceeded with an exaggerated impression of Hiro.

"Look at me, I'm Hiro," she began in a low voice. "I don't wanna do anything fun. I just wanna work on robots all day. Teenage angst. Drama. Emo."

Hiro rolled his eyes and tried to stifle a laugh. "I do not act like that."

"Ugh, Riley don't bother me," she said, continuing her impression. "I'm too busy being an anime protagonist. Angst. More angst. I love being a teenager."

Hiro rolled his eyes again and stood up. "So that's how we're doing this, huh? How does this sound." He stood up on his tip toes, smiled widely, and spoke in a high pitched voice: "Hi, I'm Riley! I'm thirteen but I act like I'm seven! Sunshine! Rainbows! Never sitting still! Must always bother Hiro!"

"Uuuugh, go away Riley!" Riley continued in her Hiro-voice. "Don't you know that I'm allergic to sunlight?"

"You're so boooooring!"

"Can't you see I'm busy changing the world? I must answer my calling! It's a lot of pressure, but it's my destiny..." She stared off into the horizon as if she was on a soap opera.

She continued holding this pose until  
Hiro leaned close to her ear. "Ponies!" He shouted in his Riley-voice, making his best friend burst into a fit of giggles. He quickly joined in.

Riley dropped her impression and turned to him. "So, is that what I'm supposed to act like?"

"Yes. Exactly."

She laughed and sat back down, saying nothing for a moment. Hiro sat next to her, breathing in the fresh air.

After a second of relaxing, Riley pointed to another cloud. "Ok, for real though: that one looks like Baymax."

Hiro looked up and smiled a bit. "Yeah, it kinda does."

"I haven't watched clouds since I was little," said Riley. "It's kinda nice."

"Yeah..."

Again it was quiet, and Hiro was just getting relaxed again when his phone started buzzing. Curiously, he pulled it out to see a text from Tadashi.

"Why are you always on your phone?" Riley asked cheekily.

"Oh shut up, it's a text."

 _Tadashi: Where are you, knucklehead? I_ t read.

Hiro rolled his eyes and replied: _At the park w/ Riley_

Tadashi: Right now?

Hiro: Yeah she was bored so we went on a walk.

Tadashi: Oh.

Tadashi: Oooooooh.

Tadashi: Is it a date?

Hiro slammed his face against his phone. Not this again.

 _Hiro: No. -.-_

Tadashi: Lol if you say so.

Tadashi: Anyway just don't take too long. I need ur help around here.

Hiro: K.

Tadashi: Have fun on your date!

Hiro: SHUT UP IT'S NOT A DATE

Hiro huffed and put away his phone. Riley was on her own, probably watching that vine she'd told him about. Hiro frowned. Tadashi had been annoying teasing him about a date, but in all honesty anyone would have thought the same. It sure _looked_ like they were on a date. Heck, he could distinctly remember hanging out with Violet in much the same way as this.

But _Riley_? He'd never thought of her as anything other than a best friend before. Ugh, this was so confusing.

"So, anyway," Hiro finally sighed. "You wanna start heading back? Dinner rush is starting soon."

Riley looked up and smiled. "Sure." She pocketed her phone and they both stood up. "You relaxed now?"

"Sure, I guess."

They started on their walk home, with Riley humming cutely like always. "Oh by the way-did I tell you about the party that my parents' friends are holding?" she asked.

"Uhhhh, no."

"They invited the whole family and said we could bring some friends. No idea what it's about, but you might have to to dress up a bit." She smiled. "Wanna come?"

"You'll have to talk to Aunt Cass about that. But I don't mind, as long as it doesn't conflict with my schedule."

"Awesome, thanks. It will be nice to hang out with someone that I actually know. Otherwise it would get _so_ awkward."

* * *

Aunt Cass had been a lot more excited about this party idea than Hiro had expected. He couldn't blame her though, she worked all the time, and deserved to have some fun once in a while.

And so, just a couple weeks after being invited by Riley and sorting out all the details, Hiro and Aunt Cass got all dressed up and ready to go. Tadashi couldn't make it, unfortunately, since he had some extra classes to get to. Hiro was kinda bummed-he liked having Tadashi around during fancy social situations, but at least Riley would be there.

The house they arrived at was no mansion, but it was a fairly fancy and elegant two-story house, and the noise and music were pouring out through the windows as they approached.

"Seems fancy," Hiro murmured. "I feel kinda underdressed…"

"Don't worry about it Hiro, you look fine," his aunt replied, smoothing his hair a little. "There will be plenty of younger guests you can hang out with, just have some fun and don't worry, okay?"

Hiro nodded, as they finally entered the house. After a couple of security checks at the door, Hiro and Cass walked into the building and looked around in awe. There were a lot of people there, mostly adults, though there were some teenagers and a few kids hanging around as well. Whoever has planned this party had gone all out-there was a huge buffet of food, and even a dance floor.

"Nice," Aunt Cass mused. "What did you say this party was for again?"

"Uhhhh...Riley's dad's boss...something something…"

"Ah. I understand now," Aunt Cass chuckled with a wink. "Well, you hungry? We can start with some food."

"Maybe we should go find Riley and her parents first…"

Aunt Cass agreed. Weaving through the crowds and sending the occasional text to Riley with his phone, the two families finally found each other near the dance floor.

"Hey Cass! Hiro!" Jill greeted happily. "Good to see you two!"

"Where's Tadashi?" Bill asked curiously.

"Oh, he's stuck in class," Aunt Cass replied. "Couldn't make it. But he says hi to all of you…"

While the adults continued their small talk, Riley suddenly appeared next to Hiro and tapped him on the shoulder. She was grinning, looking really adorable in her golden dress and big blue bow.

"Finally, you're here!" she said to him. "It's about time! Those other people over there were even more boring than _you."_ She pointed to a group of teenagers seated nearby, half of whom were on their phones and the other half sitting there trying to look cool and failing.

Hiro snickered. "Yeah, Super Hiro is here to save you from boredom. Aren't you so glad?"

Riley faked a swoon. "My _hero."_

They laughed for a second, until Hiro noticed Riley's mom smiling at them and immediately stopped. He instantly remembered what Tadashi had said about Jill and how she felt about Hiro and Riley's relationship. And it wasn't like his fake-flirting was really helping.

After a couple more awkward minutes like this, the music in the room suddenly changed, and people began to couple up and dance.

 _Oh no,_ Hiro thought to himself. These slow dance sessions at parties had never meant a thing to him, but now it filled him with dread.

A couple seconds later, he figured out why. The adults had paused their conversation and were watching idly as the couples began dancing on the floor. Then, almost out of the blue, Jill asked them, "Do you guys wanna dance?"

Hiro had to shut his eyes and take a breath. Truth be told, he didn't know how to feel about this.

But Riley did. "No, mom, I don't like dancing," she groaned in frustration.

"Come on, it will be fun," Jill insisted. "Bill, let's go dance."

"Uhhhh, ok," her husband agreed, not really knowing what she was up to. "See you in a moment, Cass."

They left to go to the dance floor, and Hiro turned to Aunt Cass, who was grinning at him cheekily. Finally, Hiro sighed and turned to Riley. "Come on, let's go," he told her. "They won't leave us alone till we do."

Riley sighed as well, but nodded. She and Hiro trudged toward the floor, not saying anything. Finally, they took an empty spot and stood facing each other as Hiro cleared his throat.

"M'lady," Hiro joked with a bow trying to dispel the slight awkwardness of the situation. "Shall we dance?"

Riley giggled gratefully and curtsied awkwardly. "Of course, kind sir."

He took her hand and placed a hand gingerly on her waist, while she put a hand on his shoulder. Neither of them really knew how to dance properly, so they just swayed back and forth, trying to avoid each other's gazes for the first few seconds.

"So…" Hiro began. "Your parents, huh?"

Riley groaned. "Yeah, sorry about that...they do this a lot."

"What? Ship you with boys?"

"Mostly just you," she gave a hollow chuckle. "Especially my mom, she keeps asking if I like you. She thinks we're gonna get _married_ or something…"

Hiro smirked. "Yeah, Tadashi does the same thing to me. 'She's your best friend!' He says, 'it's classic romance!' He says."

Riley laughed again. "Hey, Tadashi's your _brother,_ it's his _job_ to make fun of you." She rolled her eyes. "When parents do it, it's just...weird."

Hiro nodded slowly. A thought occurred to him at this moment, but he kept his mouth shut. The thing about Tadashi's 'classic romance' comments had stuck with him for a while, but he certainly didn't want to freak Riley out.

"Besides, I can't be with _you_ ," Riley began cheekily. " _You're_ a _player,_ after all."

Hiro nearly stopped their dance in its tracks. "Excuse me, _what_?" He sputtered. "In what universe am _I_ a player?"

"Not this one," Riley laughed. "But my friends at school seem to think so."

"What? But they barely know me!"

"Yeah, but they know that you've been out with both Violet _and_ Penny. Astro says it's too much of a coincidence that you've dated two girls from our friend group, and Ted jumps in and says it's because you date _every_ girl." She snickered. "And if you date _me,_ it might just confirm their theory."

Hiro groaned loudly. "Seriously? I broke up with Violet _forever_ ago, and I only ever went out with Penny _once!_ And you're just sitting there and letting them spread rumors?"

"No, of course not. The rumors don't spread anywhere. But Ted loves his conspiracy theories. He's kinda like Fred that way." She giggled. "Ted and Fred. Makes sense."

Hiro sighed. "Unbelievable."

But he smiled cheekily at her. "But wait, is that really the only reason you wouldn't date me? Because rumors? How shallow of you, Riley."

Riley laughed. "Screw rumors, Hiro. There's _plenty_ of reasons I wouldn't date you."

"Ouch."

"Like how you're basically my best friend. That would just be weird."

Hiro shrugged. "I mean, it could happen. It would be kinda funny, wouldn't it?"

"It's funny because it's absurd."

"Come on, Riley. Wouldn't it just make sense, though? Everyone else seems to think so, and half of the stuff we say to each other sounds like flirting from the outside. Your mom is proof of that."

"But it's _not_ flirting, so who cares?"

"I care!" Hiro snapped.

Riley stopped dancing all of a sudden at this. She said nothing. The smile on her face slowly disappeared.

Hiro stared at her in shock at what he had just said. Where was all this coming from? This had started off as a joke, but now...was he actually _considering_ this? Riley was a friend. _Just_ a friend...right?

"What do you mean...?" The girl asked carefully, frowning slightly.

Hiro hesitated. What _did_ he mean? Did he actually have feelings for Riley right now? Or was he just speaking out of desperation? He _had_ been looking for someone to date, after all.

"I...I don't mean anything," Hiro stammered. "It's just an interesting thought, is all, I mean...we get along really well, and you're...uh, pretty, so..."

Riley just blinked, then slowly stepped backwards out of his arms until she was a couple steps away. Hiro was confused but didn't stop her. The music and dancing continued to swirl around them, and Riley stared at Hiro in a mixture of shock and confusion. For a long while, she looked as if she'd never seen Hiro before.

"Wh...what's with you, Hiro?" She asked, studying him up and down.

Hiro worried that he had upset the girl, but forced a smile. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"You're being all...weirdly romantic all of a sudden. It's so weird…" she paused,as if afraid to speak, then practically whispered, "Hiro, do you... _like_ me or something?"

Hiro bit his lip and shifted his weight between his feet. "No, Riley I just...I-I was just saying, it would be kinda...cool?"

She squinted at him. "What? Hiro, no riddles, okay? I'm so confused right now. Are you not into GoGo anymore?"

At this, Hiro suddenly blushed. "What? GoGo? What does she have to do with this?"

"You like her, right? Or you used to...or do you like _me?_ This makes no sense!"

"Hang on, Riley!" Hiro cried. "How did you know I was into GoGo before?"

" _Everybody_ knows, Hiro!" She snapped back.

Hiro stared back in shock. _Everybody…?_

"I was so confused when you started dating Violet," Riley continued, her voice cracking a bit as she poured out her words. "Cause I thought you still liked GoGo, but I figured it was none of my business. Same with Penny. But now-now you're acting all weird with _me?_ Seriously Hiro, who are you into? _All of us_? You're weirding me out now!"

Hiro stared back in shock. Riley was looking at him as if he was some kind of alien who had come and taken the place of her best friend.

She was right, though. He wasn't making sense. _None_ of this was making sense. Why was he trying to flirt with someone he had no feelings for? The whole thing was confusing enough for him, and he couldn't imagine how _she_ must feel right now. He couldn't leave her like that. She had to know the truth.

"I...I do like GoGo," he practically whispered.

"What? I can't hear you."

"I _like_ GoGo!" Hiro yelled. "I've liked GoGo the whole time, Riley! That's _why_ I dated Violet! That's _why_ I went out with Penny! Because GoGo's too old for me and I'm trying to find someone else, but now-!" he stopped, trying to calm himself down. "Now I'm getting so _desperate,_ dammit!"

 _Desperation._ That's all it was. Now that he was actually thinking clearly, he knew that was it. Riley didn't make him feel the same way he felt with GoGo. She didn't frustrate him, scare him, and make his whole life seem beautiful and painful all at once the way GoGo did. Riley was a best friend, nothing more. But he'd just gone and ignored that, like a complete idiot.

Hiro stopped to catch his breath, and didn't look up at Riley's expression. He sighed again and slumped his shoulders in defeat. "I...I'm tired," he admitted. "This whole dating around thing was never for me. I'm just taking whatever I can get at this point. I didn't mean to scare you. I'm sorry…"

Riley took a step closer. "So then...you _don't_ like me?"

"No way," Hiro replied with a hollow laugh. "You're my _sister,_ Ri. And you're right-we really could never be together. Forgive me, I was just...I really was _desperate_ for a second…"

Riley grinned widely in relief and gave Hiro a huge hug. "Oh, phew! That scared me!"

Hiro was surprised, but hugged back before they separated, with Riley smiling again as if nothing had happened.

"I wish you'd told me that sooner!" Riley told him. "I think I know just the person who could get your mind off GoGo!"

Hiro raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

"My friend Tip! You remember her, right? She's had a huge crush on you ever since she met you."

Hiro stared back in surprise. " _Tip?_ Tip likes me?"

"Yeah, she's always going on about how you're _so cute,_ and asking me when I'll bring you over to hang out again," Riley giggled. "Plus, she does act a lot like GoGo-I think you'll like her too."

Hiro frowned. There it was, that whole _just like GoGo_ thing again. He didn't know if what he was hearing was a relief or if he was just tired of it.

"I-I don't know, Riley," he sighed. "I'm kinda burnt out on romance. And besides, what about all the rumors?"

Riley bit her lip and thought for a moment. "Ok, well...I'll make sure that Astro and Ted aren't with us this time. How about that?"

"I...guess I could try. Th-thanks."

The dancing finally stopped at that moment, and everyone on the floor clapped briefly and began to walk away. Hiro and Riley did the same.

"It'll be fine," Riley assured him, as the two headed back to their parents. "You two will make a good couple, I can feel it."

"If you say so, Riley...and again, sorry I was acting so weird out there."

Riley laughed, and gave him a friendly push. "Dude, don't worry. You do weird things all the time. You are a _teenager,_ right?"

Hiro rolled his eyes, but finally smiled again, relieved. "Right."

Thank goodness _that_ was over.

* * *

"Wait a minute, _what?"_ Tadashi cried that night, when they were back at home. "You and Riley were _slow-dancing_ and I didn't even get to see it?"

Hiro rolled his eyes and typed away at the computer he was sitting at. "You didn't miss a thing," he told his brother. "It literally had the exact opposite effect of what you're thinking. Riley and I agreed to be siblings from now on."

Tadashi chuckled. "Really? Cause I heard something different from Aunt Cass. I heard you were being kinda flirty."

Hiro sighed. "Not really...and besides, she was totally grossed out by the idea of dating me anyway. Said she was more like my sister. Can't date my sister, can I? Sorry, bro."

Tadashi gave a disappointed grunt, but said nothing more. Hiro snickered triumphantly, but then he remembered the rest of his conversation with Riley and frowned. "And...she said she'd try to set me up with a friend of hers. No idea how that's gonna go though…"

"Really?" Tadashi said thoughtfully. "Which friend?"

"Tip Tucci. You haven't met her yet, but...Riley says she's...just like GoGo…"

Tadashi smirked. "That's a good thing, isn't it?"

"I guess…" Hiro paused, and turned back to Tadashi. "Hey...I have a question: is it true that _everyone_ knows about me liking GoGo?"

Tadashi raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"Cause Riley definitely knew about it," Hiro grumbled. "Do the rest of our friends know too? Does _GoGo_ know?" The idea of it made him panic a little.

Tadashi thought for a second. "Uh...if she does, she hasn't said anything about it. I know Honey Lemon thinks it's adorable, and Wasabi...he knows, but kinda shrugs it off. Don't know about Fred, either, he doesn't seem to care."

Hiro nodded slowly.

"Don't worry about it, though. It'll be over soon. That's why you're doing this, right?"

"Uh, yeah…right."

He turned back to his computer, indicating that the conversation was over, and sighed. _It'll be over soon..._


	9. ROUND 6: TIP

Riley had kept her promise and set up another trip with her group of friends that Hiro was oh-so-coincidentally invited to. This time they were going to an arcade, and hopefully it would be better than Hiro's last arcade "date."

After Aunt Cass dropped him off though, Hiro didn't join the group right away. Instead, he decided to observe for a moment. Hiding just behind the corner of the building, Hiro saw Riley and her friends waiting outside the door. Tip was there, of course, and so were Violet, Wilbur, and Jordan. Astro and Ted were nowhere to be found, thank goodness, and Penny was mysteriously absent as well.

"What exactly are we waiting for?" Wilbur was saying. "Shouldn't we go inside already?"

"No," Riley replied simply. "I'm still waiting for someone."

"Who?" asked Tip.

"It's a surprise," Riley giggled. "Especially for you, Tip."

Tip looked surprised. "What? For me? Why, who is it?"

"If I told you, I'd wouldn't be a surprise~~~"

"Riley!" Tip have her friend a shove, grinning excitedly, but not asking more.

"Well, can we maybe wait for the person inside?" Wilbur asked, getting impatient.

"No, we can't start without my friend!" Riley insisted.

"Well, maybe you two can wait for your friend."

"Maybe you can shut up," Tip snapped back, making the others snicker.

Hiro snorted at this as well, and then decided it was time to come out of hiding. Wouldn't want to make Tip wait too long for her "surprise."

"Hey guys," Hiro greeted as he arrived.

Everyone turned to face him. Riley grinned at the sight of him and Tip just froze. Her face slowly turned pink and she turned to face Riley, who was giggling uncontrollably.

Hiro rolled his eyes in amusement and took the time to greet the others, who were grinning both cheekily and awkwardly.

"Oh hey, Hiro," Wilbur said with a wave. "Haven't seen you in a while."

"Yeah, I've been busy," Hiro replied with a shrug. "Anyway, I recall you told me something about me meeting Cornelius Robinson? You didn't forget about that, did you?"

"Right, right...I'll get back to you on that."

Something told him that Wilbur would not get back to him on that. Nonetheless though, Hiro rolled his eyes and kept his optimistic demeanor as he turned his attention back to Tip and Riley.

The two of them seemed to be arguing under their breath, with Riley still giggling and Tip hissing something at her. While the group finally started heading into the arcade, Hiro decided to interject.

"Hey Tip, how's it going?" he asked.

Tip immediately dropped her conversation with Riley and turned to him with a nervous smile. "Uhhhh...good. And you?"

Hiro shrugged. "Eh. Been dealing."

She simply nodded and said nothing after this. Hiro looked down awkwardly, also not sure what to say. But it was alright, they still had the rest of their time here to talk if he wanted. It would be awesome, just like Riley had said.

The group split off to play different games as soon as they got in, and Hiro quickly lost sight of Tip. He shrugged it off, playing a few games with the others, until he eventually found himself standing alone by a table, already tired.

He honestly wasn't sure how this whole thing had been working out, but of course, Riley had it covered.

"Hey, why aren't you with Tip?" Riley asked him with a pout, looking slightly annoyed as she stood next to him.

"Um. I-I can't really find her," Hiro replied sheepishly. "Maybe hanging out in a big group isn't really the best idea, Ri..."

"Oh, excuses, excuses," Riley said with a roll of her eyes. "Stop being such a big baby, Hiro-look, she's right over there playing DDR."

Riley pointed over at the machine she was referring to, where sure enough, Tip was dancing away to the arrows on the screen.

"...and I'll take care of the others," Riley continued. "Come on, you're trying to get to know her, aren't you? Well she loves dancing. And you think dancing is _so_ romantic, apparently-"

"Oh, will you let that go already?"

Riley rolled her eyes again and gave him a hard shove in Tip's direction. "Just go!"

Hiro sighed. "I just can't win with you, can I?"

Riley just waved sweetly at him and left, while Hiro just walked carefully over to where Tip was, studying her as he went. She'd just finished a game and was about to start another one, which meant that this was the perfect opportunity. Taking a deep breath, he headed over and leaned on the railing around the game.

"Hey," he greeted loudly with a grin. Tip stopped and turned to him in surprise, but he continued. "Need a player two?"

Tip didn't say anything for a second, but then smiled. "Ummm...sure! I mean, if you want..."

"Yeah, no problem," Hiro replied, stepping onto the platform. "It's always more fun when you play against someone."

Tip giggled as he got on and inserted his quarter. The song started playing on the game, and the two glanced at each other as the game began.

It started off smoothly at first, and the two started giggling at each other's ridiculous attempts at dancing. Hiro eventually gave up and just started stomping on the pads that corresponded to the arrows.

"Hey!" Tip laughed when she noticed him. "You can't do that!"

"Can't do what?" Hiro smirked.

"That! Quit smashing the arrows with your feet!"

"That's what you're supposed to do, isn't it?"

"No, Hiro!" Tip laughed again. "You're supposed to be finding your groove!" To demonstrate, she did a couple of dance moves with her arms while the game continued.

"Pffff," Hiro replied. "I don't have any groove."

"Sure you do! You just gotta find it. Just do what I'm doing." She started to move her arms around again as she danced, while Hiro tried and failed to keep up.

Tip, of course, won the game.

Hiro placed his hands on his hips and smirked. "Huh. I never realized just how much I can't dance."

Tip giggled and stepped off the platform. "Nah, you did fine," she replied. "You just need to practice."

Hiro chuckled and followed her. "True. I haven't danced since I was like ten, so that explains it."

"For real? But you're in college, right? Don't you people have parties all the time?"

Hiro rolled his eyes with a grin. "Uh, they also drink a lot, Tip. If I went to one of those, I'm pretty sure my aunt would actually kill me."

Tip laughed, but then looked down at her feet again, unsure of what to say.

Hiro picked it back up. "So, you wanna play another game?"

Tip looked up, seeming a bit surprised that he still wanted to hang out with her, but smiled again. "Oh! Sure! Uh...how about that game over there?"

She pointed to a first-person shooter in the corner, where a couple of other kids were currently finishing up their round.

Hiro smirked. "Ooh, sure. You won't beat me this time, though. I've been destroying my brother at this game for years."

"We'll see about that," Tip smirked, as the two made their way over.

When they got there, the other two kids who had been playing put down their fake guns and turned around. All four of them yelped in surprise when they saw each other.

"Ted?" Tip asked.

"Tip!" Ted replied, equally shocked. "And...Hiro?"

"...and...Penny?" Tip finished.

Penny smiled and waved. "Uh, hey Tip. Hi Hiro."

Tip laughed out loud. "Oh hey Penny. Good to see you. What are you two doing here...together?"

"Uh, I can ask you the same thing," Ted retorted, looking from Tip to Hiro and back again.

Hiro felt his smile slowly disappear. _Oh, no_ , he thought. _That's right...Ted is the conspiracy theorist..._

"Uh, no," Tip said confidently. "We're actually here with everybody else. See?" She pointed to another game in the room, where Riley was keeping the other three distracted by pitting them in competitions against each other as well as screaming loudly.

Penny laughed behind her hand. "Oh my gosh. Ted, they're all here. What are the odds?"

Ted slid a hand down his face in pure embarrassment, then turned back to the other two. "Don't...don't tell them you saw us..."

"We won't," Tip said again, slowly taking the gun from Penny.

"Come on, Ted, you wanna go somewhere else?" Penny asked.

"Sure, I guess..." Ted replied in disappointment. He started to hand the fake gun to Hiro, before looking him up and down. "So..." he began. "You're with Tip now, huh? Interesting."

Hiro rolled his eyes and didn't even bother to lower his voice. "Oh, save it, Ted. I know all about your little conspiracy theories."

Ted looked surprised.

"Yeah," Hiro smirked. "So, I think you'd better run along before I embarrass you in front of your date."

"Oh!" Tip cried, covering her smirk with a hand. "Ted, I think you'd better leave before you get burned too hard."

Ted turned red and took Penny's hand. "You win this time," he said to Hiro, before the couple then disappeared.

Hiro groaned. "Great. I bet he's going to spread even more rumors about me now..."

"Ah, don't worry Hiro," Tip assured him. "We all know they're not true. Anyway-prepare to lose!"

"Hah. In your dreams."

And so the rest of the day went. Hiro and Tip didn't even speak to the other kids, they were too busy playing the games and bantering over who won the most. Honestly, Hiro hadn't had this much fun in a long while, not even when he was hanging out with Riley.

Finally, Tip grabbed him by the arm and led him to an obscure game in the corner. "Alright, Mr. Boy Genius," she said. "Let's see how well you do at _this_ game."

"What is it?"

She pointed him to the instructions on the wall with a grin. "It's the nerdiest arcade game ever invented. Only the smartest people can win."

A smile slowly spread over Hiro's face as he finished reading. "Oh really? And have you ever won before?"

"I sure have," Tip smirked. "Let's see how well you can do."

"You're on."

They inserted a quarter and got ready as the game began. Hiro was actually quite surprised at the amount of strategy required in this arcade game, but he was always one for a good intellectual challenge. And Tip, he noticed, we putting up one hell of a fight. He was quite impressed, to say the least.

Eventually, they both got so into the game that they didn't even notice all their friends standing behind them to watch.

"Careful, Hiro," Tip teased. "You better not lose sight of what the opponent's doing~"

"Don't worry about me, Tip," he replied. "I know what I'm doing."

"Are you sure?" Tip asked him cheekily. "Cause I'm about to-boom!"

She jumped up happily as she made her move, but Hiro had already been anticipating it.

"Boom," Hiro repeated cockily, making his own move...and winning the game in one clean swish.

Tip stood there and looked shocked for a moment, before turning to the smirking Hiro in bewilderment. "You saw right through me," she said at last.

Hiro shrugged. "It was a basic geometric strategy," he replied simply.

"Wow," Tip looked downward in disappointment. "You really are a genius, huh?"

"But it was still hard, even for me," Hiro reassured her. "I can definitely see how you've won this before."

She looked up at him, but blushed and smiled goofily at the compliment. "Th-thanks..."

It was quiet for a second, before their friends finally decided to speak up.

"Welp," said Jordan. "I didn't understand a thing in that game."

"Me neither," Wilbur and Violet both replied, and the three of them promptly turned to leave.

Hiro's nose scrunched up in a frown. "Uh, how long were you guys standing here?"

"I dunno," Riley replied. "Anyway, your Aunt Cass just called me and said you weren't answering your phone. She's outside waiting for you."

"What? Already?" Hiro pulled out his phone and winced to see like twenty missed texts and calls from Aunt Cass. "How long have we even been here?"

"Like three hours."

Dang, three hours? He'd been so caught up in hanging out with Tip that he didn't even notice the time pass by.

Tip looked disappointed. "So...you have to leave now?"

Hiro looked back at her sadly. "I guess so..." he then gave a bashful smile. "I...I had fun, Tip."

"Me too. See you soon?"

"Yeah. Bye."

Hiro glanced at the girl once more as he turned to leave. He headed toward the exit with his hands in his pockets, lost in thought. Riley, of course, followed him like a curious puppy.

"Soooooo?" Riley began. "What do you think?"

Hiro felt a smile cross his face. "I...I think you might have been right!" he declared. "She's a lot of fun!"

Riley jumped up happily. "Awesome! See, I told you! You'll make a great couple!"

"Whoa, hey, it's not like she's my girlfriend!" Hiro said, trying to quiet her down. "I...still need to ask her."

"You mean you didn't even ask her on a date or anything?"

"N-no, Riley. I mean...you gotta wait for the proper time and place..."

Riley rolled her eyes. "Unbelievable. Do I have to do everything?" She grabbed Hiro's arm and promptly began stomping right back to where Tip was.

"Ack! Riley, what are you-?!"

"Hey Tip!" Riley yelled as they found the girl once more. "Hiro wants to know if you wanna go out with him!"

Tip seemed to freeze instantly, watching as Hiro slapped a hand over Riley's mouth.

Hiro pushed his friend away with a blush, then turned back to the shocked Tip. "U-uh..." he stammered. "Well, I mean...she's not...lying..."

"For real?" Tip whispered, eyes wide.

"Sure. If you want, that is..."

Tip was speechless for another moment, before squealing, "Yes!" and quickly giving Hiro an excited hug.

Hiro froze as the girl wrapped her arms around him. What was this? What was that familiar feeling in his stomach? Were those...butterflies? Was _Tip_ giving him butterflies...?

She pulled away from him, still grinning from ear to ear. They both took a moment to stare at each other, before Tip haphazardly pulled out her phone. "U-um...you probably want my number, right?"

"Huh? Oh, sure."

Once that was over with, Hiro waved goodbye to the two girls and headed away once more. Riley gave him a thumbs up as he left, and he just stuck a tongue out at her.

By the time he got to Aunt Cass' truck, he felt like he was walking on top of the world. He wasn't even bothered by Aunt Cass' annoyed stare.

"What happened?" his aunt asked him as she started up the truck. "Did your phone die or something?"

"Hmm?" Hiro asked, still grinning. "Uh, no, sorry, I just...couldn't hear it over the noise."

Aunt Cass nodded, taking note of her nephew's expression. "Alright...so, anyway, how did it go?"

Hiro smiled at the arcade once more. "It was...awesome."

* * *

"What are you doing?"

Hiro looked up in surprise at the sound of Tadashi's voice, and momentarily paused his de-organizing of his desk. "Uh...have you seen my...calendar?"

Tadashi raised an eyebrow and pointed to the other side of the room, where Hiro's personal calendar was lying on his bed.

Hiro nodded a thank you and grabbed it, looking it over in concentration. Tadashi observed him curiously, even leaning over his desk to look over his little brother's shoulder.

"Do you think Professor Heaton would let us out early in Friday?"

"No way. I wouldn't plan on anything before five that day-why though?"

Hiro bit his lip and started scribbling some things on his calendar. "Umm..."he said distractedly. "I just...um, trying to plan on meeting someone."

Tadashi looked at his brother in surprise and smirked. "Someone? Is it a female someone?"

Hiro didn't really hear him. "Mmmmm...Friday's no good," he mumbled. "Maybe Wednesday?"

Tadashi rolled his eyes and put a hand on Hiro's cheek, gently turning his brother's head to face him. "Hey, I'm talking to you," he chuckled. "Don't you usually plan your dates on weekends?"

Hiro blinked and turned back to the calendar. "Uh...yeah...but..."

Tadashi smirked even wider. "Sounds like you want to see this person as soon as possible, don't you~?"

Hiro turned red and pushed Tadashi away, which just made his brother snicker even more.

"Well, don't keep me in the dark. Who is it? Is it that friend of Riley's you told me about?"

"Yeah..." Hiro replied, trying not to let Tadashi see him smiling. "Tip."

Tadashi saw him smiling anyway and leaned forward, still smirking. "Aaaaand? What's she like?"

"She's great!" Hiro replied. "She's really smart, and fun, and really sassy..."

"Is she cute?"

"Uh-huh." He turned back to the calendar, scribbling away. "She's got like these...green eyes and super curly hair...oh, and she can kick your butt in video games."

"Sounds like you like her a lot."

"I do!" Hiro turned back to his brother, not bothering to hide his wide smile this time. "I-I don't think I've ever liked someone like this in a long time. I-I think...maybe she's the answer to my problem!"

Tadashi chuckled, glad to see his brother so happy. "Well, in that case I definitely want to meet her."

"Sure. I'll bring her to the cafe sometime...speaking of which, are you hungry? I'm gonna head downstairs..."

Tadashi watched as Hiro practically stumbled past him in his burst of energy, and he chuckled again. "So then...no more GoGo, huh?"

Hiro stopped, hesitating. Of course nothing would change right away, but...he would prefer it if Tadashi didn't remind him of that other crush that had caused him so much trouble.

So he turned back to Tadashi with a small shake of his head, smiling and chuckling. "Wh...who the heck is GoGo?"


	10. GAME CHANGER

GAME CHANGER

"So, anyway...I finally agree to go see this movie with her. She said it was full of aliens and stuff, so I thought, ok, it must be cool-and guess what? There were _barely_ any aliens in it!" Tip rolled her eyes. "It was just some dull love story and the aliens only came in at the last twenty minutes. Like, who even makes a movie like that? Who greenlighted that script?"

Hiro chuckled, listening to Tip ramble as they casually walked down the sidewalk. She was always so emotive when she talked, it was adorable.

"Honestly, I would like to see _one_ alien movie that isn't full of stupid stuff," Tip sighed. "All of them are the same-and why do the aliens have to be gross and mean, anyway? Why can't they be cute and friendly?"

Hiro laughed. "Cute and friendly? And how do you envision that kind of alien?"

"I dunno...something small, and cute, and...maybe purple?"

"Purple?"

She giggled. "Yeah, with eight legs and a big smile. And they're not here to invade-they just want a huge party."

"I don't know, I don't think a real alien would travel to another planet just to have a party."

"How do you know? Have you _met_ a real alien?"

Hiro smirked. "Hm. You got me there."

She grinned. "Heh...do you even believe in real aliens, Hiro?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. Maybe. I just don't think I believe in the cute and cuddly ones."

"Right, I forgot," Tip teased. "You're a manly man who prefers the big and scary aliens who would sneak up on you, and- _attack!"_ At this, she smacked him on the back, causing Hiro to yelp in surprise.

"H-hey! No fair!"

She burst out laughing and gave him an affectionate shove. "You're a riot, Hiro."

Hiro rolled his eyes and rubbed his shoulders. "Yes, I know, I'm hilarious...but Tip, the pushing, remember?"

Tip stopped laughing. "O-oh, sorry, Hiro...i-it's just a bad habit, but...yeah, you don't like it, so…"

He chuckled. "It's ok, I know," he replied gently. "Anyway-what's that about an alien party? What would they even do?"

Tip giggled and continued talking, and Hiro just let her talk. He rubbed his shoulder again absentmindedly. Tip could be a little...much, sometimes, but she was just energetic, was all. He really didn't mind having to repeat some things to her over and over-she'd get it in time, right? And he still liked her a lot. It was never hard to talk to her, and she was always lots of fun. They'd been together for about a month or two now, and Hiro was enjoying it just as much as ever.

Tip stopped talking for a second, and Hiro heard her stomach growl a little.

"I'm kinda hungry," she admitted, looking over to Hiro sheepishly.

Hiro smiled. "We're pretty close to the Lucky Cat. Wanna stop there for lunch?"

"Sure! Your aunt makes the best food!"

Hiro chuckled as Tip grabbed his hand and pulled him in the direction of the cafe. He yelped a bit. "T-Tip! The pulling again!"

"Oh, sorry!"

The couple arrived at the cafe, where Hiro was surprised to see most of his friends hanging out without him. Huh. It looked like they'd been hanging out together for a while when he and Tip were together.

"Riley?" Tip asked in surprise, when she saw Riley hanging out with the college students as usual.

"Oh , hey Tip! Hi Hiro!"

"What are you doing here?" Tip asked.

"Uh, hanging out with my fam," Riley responded, gesturing to the older students at the table. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Uh, hanging out with my man."

"Ooooh!" everyone at the table erupted into a fit of snickers.

Hiro blushed a bit and looked downward as Tip held on to his arm. _Smooth, Tip, real smooth._ He looked back up at the table to glare at his teasing friends, and noticed that GoGo wasn't there.

...ah, it didn't matter. She was probably busy with something else, right?

"So, Hiro," Tip began again. "These are all your college buddies, right?"

"Uh, yeah," Hiro replied. "Guys, this is Tip. Tip, this is Honey Lemon, Wasabi, Fred, and...you've met Tadashi, right?"

Tip giggled and nodded. The others greeted her happily as the two of them sat at the table.

"Tip, huh?" Fred mused. "Looks like you're already part of the nickname squad."

"Yep!" said Tip.

"Nice. I was hoping to give you a super cool nickname, but Tip works good too."

"Fred, you don't have to give _everyone_ a nickname," Wasabi groaned.

"It's fun, though. I've been trying to come up with a good nickname for Hiro. I was thinking _Noodle."_

Riley almost spit out her drink with laughter. "What? Noodle? Why?"

"You know," Fred gestured to his young friend. "Cause he's thin, and 'noodle' also means brain, so you know…"

"No," Hiro replied quickly, shutting him down.

"Awww, come on, Hiro! It took me forever to come up with that!"

"No."

"I'll call him Noodle," Tadashi snickered

"Me too!" said Riley.

Hiro turned to Tip. "You see what I have to deal with?"

"Your friends are awesome!" Tip giggled.

Aunt Cass then walked over with a grin. "Well, hey there, lovebirds. What can I get for you?"

"I'm not really hungry…" Hiro murmured.

"Do you have a menu, Ms. Hamada?" Tip asked.

"Of course sweetie. Pick whatever you want, this one's on the house."

While Tip eagerly looked over her menu, the bell at the door suddenly rang, and everyone turned to see who it was.

GoGo had entered the cafe, ruffling her hair a bit from the helmet she'd been wearing, and chewing her bubble gum cooly as usual. Hiro gulped and turned away.

Tip, however, continued to stare. "Whoa. Who's _that?_ "

"That's...GoGo," Hiro muttered. "She's another friend of ours…"

GoGo walked slowly over to the table and nodded to her friends, then took a moment to study Tip. "Who's the new girl?"

"Hi! I'm Tip," Tip replied with a grin. "I'm...Hiro's girlfriend."

GoGo gave her half a grin. "Oh yeah, Tip Tucci. I've heard about you. Nice to meet you, I'm GoGo."

Tip shook the older girl's hand as if she were a celebrity. GoGo popped a bubble with her gum and went to sit with the rest of her friends, across from Hiro.

Tip looked over at Riley with a smile. "She's so _cool!"_

"I know, right?" Riley replied. "And wait till you see her cool bike...GoGo, can I show Tip your bike?"

GoGo shrugged. "Sure. It's parked right outside. Just don't touch it."

The two young girls got up excitedly as Riley led Tip over to the window. "She tricked it out," Riley said to her friend. "And it looks _badass…"_

Hiro rolled his eyes and turned to GoGo. "Looks like you've got a couple of fans."

GoGo merely smirked. "Eh. Just comes with being me, I guess. Anyway, how are you doing, Noodle?"

Hiro groaned. "Don't call me Noodle…"

GoGo laughed, but obliged.

The lazy atmosphere of the weekend afternoon seemed to settle in right then. Hiro had always liked these days. His friends would always show up to relax, and there weren't many people at the cafe. Before he'd gotten together with Tip, Hiro used to hang out with his friends like this all the time. He loved being with Tip, of course, but he often found himself missing this and was more than happy to enjoy it now.

As they lazily lounged around in the cafe, the group paired off into their own conversations. Riley and Tip had taken seats at a different table, eating while they happily discussed something from and Fred were arguing loudly about something, and Tadashi and Honey were ignoring them all, talking amongst each other in hushed voices.

This just left Hiro and GoGo, who were mainly just sitting around and watching the antics of their friends.

Just then, GoGo yawned, and Hiro looked over at her with a grin.

"You sleepy already?" he asked cheekily.

"I pulled an all-nighter," GoGo explained nonchalantly. "I had to finish an essay due this morning."

Hiro frowned. "Really? Well, it's not like you had to come here...you could have stayed home to sleep…"

She smiled at him. "Nah, it's fine. I like having lunch here. Gives me something to look forward to."

Hiro felt himself grin. How sweet. GoGo was looking forward to hanging out with him-er, well, with all of them.

She sighed. "Anyway, what have you been up to?"

He shrugged. "Stuff."

She smirked. "You been working on that circuitry project for McAllister's class?"

He groaned. "Ugh, why do you have to bring that up?"

"Ok, I'll talk about something else-" GoGo snickered. "Where's that supersuit upgrade you've been promising me?"

"The circuitry project is going well, thanks for asking."

"Hey!"

Hiro chuckled, amused at her annoyed face. "I'm kidding-I'll get to it soon, GoGo, I promise. I just need you to, you know, actually help me."

"I can come over tomorrow if you want."

Hiro felt his heart skip a beat. "Sure, if you want-oh, uh, you've got something in your face, by the way."

GoGo frowned and rubbed her face. "Uh, is it gone?"

"No, it's-" Hiro frowned as he watched her try to find the peice of food on her cheek again. "It's right there-here, I got it." He leaned over and gingerly wiped the crumbs off her face, feeling a slight jolt when his finger made contact with her skin.

GoGo didn't seem to notice. "Thanks."

She said something else, too, but Hiro didn't really hear it. He was too focused on how soft her cheek had been, and how nice it looked when her hair framed her face, glistening in the afternoon sunlight-wait, what?

" _Anyway!"_ Fred slammed his hand down on the the table, snapping Hiro out of his trance. "We may as well get everyone else to help us settle this-guys, we need your opinion. Would the Jedi from _Star Wars_ technically count as empaths or not?"

GoGo scrunched her nose. "You mean you've been yelling all this time about _Star Wars?"_

"Answer the question."

GoGo rolled her eyes. "I don't give a shit."

Fred was about to pry her more, but instead thought better of it and turned to Hiro. "What do you think, little Noodle?"

"Quit trying to make Noodle happen or I'll take Wasabi's side," Hiro snapped. "Anyway, are we talking prequels or originals?"

"Both."

"Uhhhh, then I don't know."

GoGo snickered.

Fred rolled his eyes. "Hey Tadashi, Honey! What do you guys think?"

The couple on question wasn't paying attention. Tadashi was too focused on the kisses that Honey was giving him on the cheek.

Wasabi rolled his eyes. "Hey, you two! Cool it with the PDA, we're right here!"

Tadashi and Honey finally looked up at this, blinking in confusion. "Uhhhh, sorry, were you saying something?"

"Important _Star Wars_ discussion!" Fred informed them.

Tadashi frowned. "You interrupted us for _Star Wars?_ "

While Fred and Wasabi interrogated them, GoGo turned back to Hiro. Rolling her eyes, she made a subtle puking motion at her mouth. "Frickin PDA."

Hiro chuckled. God, she was adorable. "Heh, yeah, they do that all the time."

"Don't they bug you?"

"Uh-huh. I don't get how they do it all the time, in front of everyone like that."

"Me neither," GoGo rolled her eyes. "I sure as hell wouldn't want anyone doing that with me."

"Wellllll, if I had a girlfriend, I wouldn't do that with her, that's for sure."

GoGo looked confused. " _If_ you had a girlfriend?"

Hiro was still staring at her dreamily. "Yeah..."

GoGo narrowed her eyes at him. "Hiro, wake up. You _have_ a girlfriend, remember? She's right over there with Riley."

At these words, Hiro sat up straight, the full weight of what he's just said suddenly dawning on him. He glanced over at Tip, who _thankfully_ hadn't heard him, and turned back to GoGo.

"Oh, u-uh...of course. J-just a force of habit, heh."

GoGo's suspicious look didn't leave her face.

And why would she? He was a terrible liar. "Force of habit"? He'd been with Tip for almost _two months._ He knew exactly what had happened just then. For a moment, for just a brief moment, he'd actually forgotten about Tip. GoGo _made_ him forget about Tip.

Why.

 _Why did GoGo make him forget about Tip?_

"Uh, anyway, l just remembered," Hiro got up haphazardly out of his chair. "Ummmm...I've got...something I need to check on...upstairs. See you later."

He stumbled upon his own feet as he hurried out of there. GoGo's eyes never left him, and as he ran away he heard the others calling his name in confusion. But it didn't matter. He had to get out of there right now.

Retreating as fast as he could to his room, Hiro slammed the door behind him and huddled into a ball on the floor, trying to clear his thoughts.

 _Why?_ That was the one word that plagued his mind as the sinking feeling in his stomach grew ever deeper. _Why?_ Why was GoGo still making him feel this way? He'd gotten over her already, hadn't he? So why was she still numbing his brain and making him forget things?

Tip...oh, poor Tip. What would she think if she found out? Would she think Hiro didn't care about her? But of course he did. Hiro liked Tip _a lot_.

But...if Tip gave him butterflies, then the feelings GoGo gave him would be akin to a swarm of bees flying around in his brain. Painful, numbing, all-consuming...

Hiro shook his head. No, he couldn't let this get to him again. He _had_ Tip! Tip was all he needed. He just needed to put forth more effort. Nothing came easy, right? He took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down, trying to figure out a solution. He just needed to spend more time with Tip, was all...

"Hiro?"

Hiro looked up at the concerned sound of his brother's voice. Tadashi had just opened the door and, at the sight of Hiro huddled up on the floor, had immediately rushed to his side.

"Are you ok?" Tadashi asked, urgency in his voice.

"I..." Hiro replied slowly. "I'm fine." He stood up, took another breath to steady himself, and headed toward the door.

But Tadashi stopped him. "What happened down there?"

"Nothing."

"Hiro-"

"I'm _fine!"_ Hiro snapped. He pushed Tadashi away and stomped out of his room. Tadashi made no effort to follow him, which was fine. Hiro already had the answer to his problem, he didn't want to address it in front of his brother and make his panicking worse.

When he reached the cafe, he noticed that GoGo was gone. Also fine with him. The others were looking to him in concern, but Hiro paid them no heed and marched right over to Tip.

He mustered as much of a smile as he could. "Hey, Tip."

"Hiro," Tip replied, also seeming worried. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, don't worry-anyway, if you're done, you wanna get out of here?"

"Oh, um...I actually have to start heading home..."

"Oh." Hiro frowned. "Well, I can walk you home, if you'd like."

She smiled. "S-sure, I'd like that."

Tip happily waved goodbye to her and Hiro's friends, before taking his hand and letting him lead her outside. Hiro had to gulp a few times, trying not to let his guilt from what happened just now be noticed by Tip. Tip was chatting away as usual, with an occasional worried glance at Hiro but nothing more.

When they stopped in front of Tip's home, she gave him a quick goodbye hug. "Thanks for the walk, Hiro. See you soon?"

"Sure," Hiro replied with his forced smile. "I'll call you, okay?"

"Ok! Bye!"

As soon as she was gone, Hiro took a few more deep breaths and began to head back. It wasn't so bad now. He could get home, get started on his work, and let all his romantic worries slide away. Then he'd go on another date with Tip, remember how much he enjoyed being with her, and his mistake would be forgotten forever. Not too big of a deal. He was fine. H-he was...just fine...


	11. CONTINUE? NO

CONTINUE? NO

"Hiro?"

Hiro nearly lost his balance on his roller skates when Tip called out his name. "Whoa! Uh, sorry, did you say something?"

Tip giggled as she skated up next to him. "No, I'm just making sure you're awake. You'll bump into a tree if you keep spacing out like that."

Hiro gave a distracted chuckle. He'd agreed to go roller skating with Tip cause he wanted to exercise to clear his mind, but apparently that wasn't working. Truth be told, he was still pretty upset with himself over what he'd said in the cafe the other day, but well...it wasn't like he could _tell_ Tip about it. So all he could hope for was that spending extra time with Tip would make him forget...though, his success with that had been minimal so far.

"Hellooooo?" Tip called again, tapping his shoulder. "Earth to Hiro? What's up with you today?"

He sighed. "S-sorry, Tip...I guess I've just got a lot on my mind."

"Awww, that's alright," Tip replied. "Happens to me all the time. Though, I guess with you it's different, since you're a college guy, huh?" She smirked, giving him a playful shove.

Hiro gritted his teeth. "Tip."

Tip's smile disappeared. "Oh, gosh! The pushing-I'm so sorry, I've been trying to stop."

"I've already told you like twenty times," he grumbled in response, turning away from her slightly.

Tip was quiet for a long moment. "H-Hiro...are you mad at me?"

Hiro looked up, feeling yet another pang of guilt when he saw Tip's distressed face. He sighed. Yeah, he was mad, but not at her. He was mad at himself. "No, Tip, I'm not mad...let's just...talk about something else. What have you been up to, anything cool happen lately?"

Tip's eyes widened and she smiled. "Ooooh, yeah! Did you hear about how Big Hero 6 stopped a huge bank robbery the other day?"

Hiro perked up at this, his mind going back to the incident she was talking about. "Oh yeah. I, uh, heard about it...on the news." He smiled in spite of himself. "You a fan of theirs?"

"Of course, who isn't?"

He chuckled. "Do you have a favorite?"

"Oooh, I don't know, they're all pretty cool...but I do kinda like the fast one in the yellow suit. She's cool."

Hiro's smile faltered slightly. Of course Tip would pick _her_.

Tip was attempting to skate faster at this point, probably trying to imitate her favorite superhero. Then, as if reading Hiro's thoughts, she said, "You know something? She kinda reminds me of your friend GoGo for some reason."

Hiro gulped. "Uhhhh, why's that?"

Tip shrugged. "I dunno, they just feel similar..." Then she snickered. "Maybe cause they're both thick."

Hiro's face instantly went hot and he gaped at her like a fish. Wh-what? What was he supposed to say to that? How was he supposed to answer a comment about GoGo being _thick_? Geez, Tip, did you have any censors at _all_?

Tip seemed to notice his flustered expression and burst out laughing. "Ha! Ok, ok, sorry, forget about that. Maybe it's just the biker thing."

"C-can we talk about something else? Please?"

Tip rolled her eyes and elbowed him slightly (Hiro didn't even bother to call her out on it this time). "Ok, well...who's your favorite?"

Hiro took a breath to calm himself down, then smirked again. "Ah, I dunno...I'm kinda partial to the purple one who rides the big red robot."

He was well aware that he was stroking his own ego right now, but it wasn't like Tip would know that...well, not now, anyway.

"Yeah, he's cool. They're all cool." She giggled. "You know there's a rumor going around that they're all college students?"

"Uh, really?"

"Yeah, but there's no way that's true. I feel like they'd all be professional athletes or something. I dunno, what do you think?"

"Um, I have no idea..."

The conversation lulled for a second, as Tip continued to try and skate quickly, but unfortunately started to fall. Hiro quickly reached out, catching her, and causing her to giggle.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly. "Guess skating isn't really my thing,"

Hiro laughed. "Me neither. You've seen how many times I fall."

"Yeah," Tip replied with a roll of her eyes. "Guess we should quit skating and try something else. Like biking. Do you have a bike?"

"No, but my brother has a crappy moped."

Tip snickered. "Why are you so mean to him?"

"I'm not mean. He's my brother, we're supposed to be making fun of each other."

Tip rolled her eyes. "Ok, fine-but I was thinking more of a cool bike. Like GoGo's!"

Hiro inhaled a sharp breath through his nose. There it was again. "You...really like GoGo, huh?"

Tip smiled sheepishly. "Well, can you blame me? She's one of the coolest people I ever met! She's smart, and interesting, and she has a cool attitude…"

Hiro felt like he was being stabbed in the chest every time Tip rattled off one of GoGo's attractive traits. Please, Tip, it wasn't like he didn't know. He was trying to forget all this stuff, for God's sake. "T-Tip, can we maybe stop talking about-"

"Do you think maybe she can teach us?" Tip continued not hearing him. Her eyes seemed to sparkle as she spoke. "Maybe she can show me how to trick out my bike too! How cool would that be?"

"M-maybe, but-"

If it wasn't for her roller skates, Tip would have started jumping up and down at that point. She was so into her idea of having a cool GoGo-inspired bike that she wasn't paying attention to Hiro's desperate stammers. "Wait, she specializes in making things go fast, right? Maybe she could help me beat Ted in a bike race! Gosh, I never knew engineers could be so cool, Hiro! Maybe she-"

" _Stop. Talking. About. GoGo_!"

Tip instantly went silent, staring at him, and only then did Hiro realize just how loudly he'd said that. For a second he just stood there, shocked, and then he covered his face with his hands in shame.

"S-sorry, I didn't mean to yell..." Hiro murmured. He took a deep breath to calm himself, as Tip skated up to him cautiously.

"Ummm...did something happen with GoGo?"

"No...uh, n-no, no," he stammered. He was lying, of course. It felt like everything he said to Tip these days was a lie.

Tip seemed suspicious. "Then what's the problem? Why are you so upset?"

Hiro sighed. What was he supposed to tell her? All he wanted was to escape his guilt, but Tip was the person who kept reminding him of it. Ever since his comment in the cafe, it felt like hanging out with Tip was making things worse, rather than distracting him like he thought it would...but he couldn't tell her that.

"I...I'm just in a bad mood," he finally answered. "I'm stressed. That's all."

Tip didn't seem convinced, but nodded slowly. "Ok..." She said quietly. "...do you wanna stop?"

"Huh?"

She shrugged. "I mean...it's ok if you don't wanna hang out right now. We can go home if you want."

She was smiling, but Hiro felt his heart sink as she spoke. He hadn't wanted her to notice how upset he was about GoGo, and yet he'd went and screamed at her.

"I...guess so. S-sorry, Tip."

"It's ok," Tip replied gently. She skated slowly up to him and gently held him by the arm, as they started to leave the park.

Hiro cringed slightly at her touch. He hated how she was being so nice to him, especially knowing that he was basically lying to her. Normally he didn't mind when she held on to his arm like this, but today he quickly wriggled out of her grasp.

* * *

Hiro haphazardly burst into his room later that day, gritting his teeth in frustration. He'd been trying to find something to get his mind off of what had happened on his date, but nothing seemed to be working. It was pissing him off to be honest. Why couldn't he get it out of his head? It was killing him.

Angrily grabbing something off his desk, Hiro was just about to head back out to the garage when-

"Hiro."

Tadashi's voice was quiet, but it still made Hiro stop in his tracks. Taking a sharp breath, Hiro turned to find his brother sitting on his bed, frowning at him in concern.

"Y-yes...?"

"C'mere."

Hiro, despite himself, walked slowly over to Tadashi and sat next to him, staring at the floor.

"What's going on?" Tadashi asked, as calmly as ever.

"Nothing..."

Tadashi gave him a look, and Hiro sighed.

"I...I think I messed up, Tadashi..."

Tadashi turned his body to face Hiro, touching the boy's shoulder gently. "Messed up with what?"

Hiro's words caught in his throat, and he had to blink back a couple tears.

"Hiro? Don't worry, I won't tell anyone..."

Hiro took a breath...and it all just came spilling out. Everything that had happened in the past few days, from that moment with GoGo in the cafe to his horrible date with Tip. Tadashi listened as Hiro rambled, nodding slowly, not saying anything.

"Tadashi, I just-I don't know what happened!" Hiro finally cried, pushing the hair away from his forehead in exasperation. "I-I thought I'd finally found someone I could be happy with, but now it just feels so...so...wrong!"

His brother raised an eyebrow. "Wrong?" he repeated softly.

"N-no, not wrong..." Hiro backtracked. He hesitated for a moment, trying to put his feelings into words. "I just...it feels...I don't like the idea of dating someone when I know I have a crush on someone else! It's just not right." He paused. "Tadashi, I...I don't think this is working."

"Ok, hang on," Tadashi interrupted. "You've been with Tip for like two months, right?"

"Yeah."

"And you've felt like this all along?"

"No," Hiro shook his head. "I-I thought this whole thing with GoGo was over by now, until that day in the cafe...and I just...I started this whole dating thing to get GoGo out of my head, but it just made everything worse! And now when I'm with Tip I just feel...guilty, and and frustrated, and..."

Tadashi was quiet. "Frustrated with Tip? Or with yourself?"

Hiro hesitated. _With myself._ It was his own problem, right? Sure, Tip had that habit of being overly physical with him (which GoGo would never do), and sometimes she needed to be told things over and over (which GoGo never did)...but that wasn't something she could help, right? Right? And he'd been putting up with it for this long, right? Hiro frowned.

"...both..." he finally answered quietly. "I mean...Tip is a bit...much...but she's smart and tough...l-like GoGo..." He frowned further as the words left his mouth. _Like GoGo._ He'd started to hate that phrase. But why?

Tadashi watched him carefully. "So, what's the problem with her? Isn't that what you want? Someone like GoGo?"

"She's _not_ like GoGo!" Hiro snapped at last. "I mean...she's _like_ GoGo, but that's not enough! Because nobody's _like_ GoGo! There's only _one_! There's only one GoGo, you can't just... _replace_ her!"

Hiro stopped. Oh. Was that what it was?

Not looking up at Tadashi's expression, Hiro curled into a ball and buried his face in his knees. He struggled not to cry, but it was time to face it: as much as he truly did like Tip, she couldn't compare to GoGo. Nobody could. And that hurt.

"Tadashi...what am I gonna do?"

Tadashi was quiet for a while. "Hiro, I've told you before. I can't tell you what to do. It's up to you. Do you think you can keep dating her?"

Hiro swallowed. "If...if I keep this up, that would make me a liar, Tadashi...I'd be lying to her, I'd be lying to myself. I don't know if I can keep going like this..." he paused. "But I...I do like her! I guess...and I don't want to break up..." He looked at Tadashi pleadingly.

"Don't look at me," was all his brother said.

"Tadashi, please!" Hiro begged. "I'm so lost! Just tell me what I should do!"

Tadashi sighed. "There's no should, Hiro. You do what you feel is best."

Defeated, Hiro buried his face in his knees again. "...I hate this."

Tadashi wrapped an arm around Hiro and rubbed his back comfortingly. "I know. It's hard. But you'll figure it out eventually, I promise."

"Easy for you to say," Hiro grumbled. "Look at you and Honey Lemon. You two are perfect together."

"Maybe so, but you don't think I got there right away, do you?"

Hiro didn't respond.

"I told you before you got into this," Tadashi continued. "Dating's a dangerous game, Hiro. And you chose to play...your move."

Hiro sighed once more and leaned against his brother. Tadashi continued whispering some comforting words to him, but Hiro's distress had more or less melted away at that point. He knew what he had to do. He couldn't continue to do this to Tip. She didn't deserve it.

...he only wished Tadashi didn't have to be so damn _poetic_ about it.

* * *

It was at that same old park several days later that Hiro decided to finally end it. As much as he hated to do it, he knew it was for the best. He couldn't continue to do this to Tip, and not to himself either.

He was quiet again as they walked along, Tip obliviously rambling about something like she always did. Hiro tried to listen to her, but he knew there was no point. For the last ten minutes he'd been silent, waiting for the perfect moment, but he soon realized that there wasn't one. The longer he waited, the more anxious he got. He couldn't bear it much longer-it was time to rip off the band-aid.

"Tip…?"

Tip didn't hear him and continued talking.

Hiro sighed and tried again. "Tip?" he said, louder this time. He reached out and held her arm, stopping her just as they stood next to the park's small stream.

Tip turned to face him. "Yeah?" She was grinning, but when she noticed his upset face, her smile faltered.

Hiro didn't look her in the eye. "I...I need to tell you something," he began, barely audible, "and...you're not going to like it."

He couldn't see her face but he could tell she was frowning. She took a step closer, but Hiro held out a hand to stop her. _Just say it, Hiro...rip off the band-aid._

"I don't think we can be together anymore."

The silence that followed felt heavy. Then Tip let out a choked, "What? Why?"

Hiro swallowed. "I-I'm really sorry, it's not your fault," he rambled. "You're really nice, and I like you a lot, but I also like someone else even more, and I've been trying to get my mind off her by dating you but now I realize that it's totally unfair to you, and...and that's why we have to split."

The words spilled out of his mouth like a waterfall, and only after they were out did Hiro realize how terrible they'd sounded. "I-I mean…"

From the corner of his eye, he could see Tip's hands slowly clench themselves into fists. _Shit_.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" the girl cried. "Are you saying that I was just a...distraction?"

"No!" Hiro quickly replied, he looked up finally, noticing that Tip's face was a mix between heartbroken and furious. His heart sank, but he had to continue. "You're not a distraction...I-I mean, you shouldn't be. You deserve better."

"I deserve better?" Tip repeated, shouting this time. "So, what, is that all I've been to you this whole time? For two months? And you're just now starting to feel bad about it?"

Hiro cringed, trying to stop tears from forming in his eyes. "No, no…" he replied, cowering slightly from her shouting. "Th-that's not true at all. I-I mean, yes, I did start dating in order to get my mind off her, but...I don't go out with just anyone, I do like you!"

"Yeah right!" Tip yelled, stomping her foot. "I can't believe you, Hiro! I thought you actually cared about me!"

"I do…"

"Then who's this other person, huh? And why am I suddenly not as good as her?"

Hiro cringed. "I...I can't tell you."

Tip said nothing, only seemed to be stewing in her own rage. Hiro hadn't intended for this. Why couldn't it be quick and easy like with Violet?

Oh yeah. Maybe because he just admitted that he'd been lying to her. Not lying about liking her, but by dating her he'd implied that she was the only girl on his mind. Which wasn't true. It had never been true, even when he'd convinced himself that it was. Tip had every right to be mad at him right now.

Hiro looked downward in shame. "I-I know you're mad, Tip. I don't blame you...I-I just want-"

"Shut up, Hiro!" Tip snapped, her voice cracking. She stomped closer to him, pointing aggressively at him, causing the boy to step backwards toward the stream. "Ted was right about you all along, you...you...you _phony_!"

With that, she gave him a shove against the chest, much harder than her usual pushes, and sent him reeling backwards. In a struggle to balance himself, Hiro instead tripped over a rock and- _splash_!-fell right into the stream.

It took him a second to recover from his shock. Tip stared at him in surprise, maybe even concern, for a moment. But seeing that he wasn't hurt, she once again stood up straight. Hiro knew she hadn't meant to push him into the water, but...she wasn't about to apologize either. And why should she?

Looking down at his pathetic, soaked self, Hiro heaved a sigh, and slowly lifted himself out of the stream. He was cold and dripping wet, but at this point he didn't care. Hot tears pricked at his eyes as he walked up to Tip once more, face downcast.

"I...I'm so sorry, Tip…" he said quietly. "You're right, I'm horrible. You deserve way better than me. I'm sorry."

He closed his eyes tightly, awaiting her response. But it never came.

"T...Tip?" Slowly, cautiously, he looked up.

She was gone.

Hiro's shoulders sagged as he looked around him, as if trying to catch one last glance of the girl he'd come so close to falling in love with. But it was no use. It was over.

Looking at the ground once more, Hiro fished his phone out of his pocket, only to find that is had broken from his fall into the stream. So now he couldn't even call Tadashi or Aunt Cass to tell them what had happened. With a heavy sigh, he put his phone back and started on the trek back home.

He would have walked more slowly if it hadn't been for the cold, but by the time he got home he'd already heaved several sneezes. Great. When he entered the door to his home, he was hoping he'd at least get some time alone, but of course that didn't happen.

"There you are!" Aunt Cass cried from where she was standing. Hiro turned to find both her and Tadashi leaning toward the counter, probably waiting for him to get home.

Tadashi smirked. "Why aren't you answering your phone, knucklehead?"

Hiro sighed. "S-Sorry, I...fell into the stream...and it broke…." He pulled out his phone and handed it to them, and only now did they notice the state he was in.

"Whoa…" Tadashi started, stepping toward his brother in concern. "What happened?"

"Why are you all wet?" Aunt Cass asked, also coming closer.

Hiro took a step back, signaling them to stop. "I fell into the stream," he repeated. "S-sorry...I'm just...gonna go take a shower…" he turned and slowly started up the stairs, while his family just stared after him in confusion and worry.

They decided to leave him for the time being, and Aunt Cass went back to whatever she'd been doing before. Tadashi sighed, and just as he sat down on the couch, his phone began to vibrate. So he pulled it out to see a text.

 _Riley: WHY ISN'T HIRO ANSWERING MY TEXTS_

Tadashi rolled his eyes.

 _Tadashi: His phone broke. Why?_

 _Riley: Oh_

 _Riley: Why'd he break up with Tip?_

Tadashi cringed as he read this, starting to piece together what had happened while Hiro was out.

 _Riley: She's really sad and she's crying...and my friends are saying really mean things about Hiro._

 _Riley: They're calling him a heartbreaker and a jerk...and they won't listen to me…_

 _Riley: I don't get it, I thought Tip and Hiro were doing okay? What happened?_

 _Tadashi: ...I don't know, Riley, I'll have to ask him. Don't_ worry _though_ , _I'll take care of this._

 _Riley: ok…_

Tadashi pocketed his phone and pondered this for a few minutes. Sure, he was annoyed at the idea of Riley's friends talking crap about his brother, but...he had more important things to worry about right now. Hiro didn't need this to add to his emotional mess.

Hiro soon finished up his shower, and Tadashi found him in their room, a towel on his head, staring forlornly at the floor. Slowly, Tadashi walked over and sat next to him.

"Hey," the older one said softly. Hiro didn't look up.

"...Riley tells me you and Tip broke up."

Hiro winced slightly. "Oh. Riley already knows, huh?"

It was quiet for a moment and Tadashi frowned. "She...she didn't push you into the stream, did she?"

"No...well, she pushed me, but...I'm the one who tripped. She didn't mean it." He heaved another sigh. "Whatever, it's over now."

Tadashi cringed at his brother's defeated expression and quickly wrapped his arm around the boy's shoulder. "Yeah, it's over," he told him. "It's ok, you're okay…"

Hiro leaned against his brother, wanting to cry but instead just sighing again. It wasn't as if he regretted his decision. He knew it had been the right thing to do. Staying with Tip would have only made things worse for both of them. Now he was at least free of that guilt, but that didn't mean it hadn't hurt. And something told him that if he tried again, it still wouldn't work. Unless he somehow stopped being crazy in love with GoGo first. Which just kinda defeated the point.

Tadashi was still saying comforting things to him. Hiro closed his eyes, sitting there for a while.

"Tadashi?"

"Yeah?"

"...I quit."


	12. GAME OVER

GAME OVER

It was a lazy afternoon in the cafe that weekend. Hiro had nothing to do, and Tadashi was off somewhere doing who knows what. His friends were all hanging out at the cafe, but Hiro was sulking by himself. Sighing, he leaned his head back on his chair and stared up at the ceiling, not really feeling anything.

He heard footsteps coming toward him. It was GoGo. Of course it was.

GoGo smirked as she looked down at him. "You asleep, nerd?"

Hiro hated how much he loved that grin. "I dunno. Maybe."

GoGo sighed and sat in the chair next to him. "Hey. Don't sweat it, Hiro. Messy breakups happen all the time. You'll get better."

Hiro just shrugged and looked away.

GoGo said nothing for a moment, then smirked. "You went hella crazy this year, Hiro."

He frowned at her. "What are you talking about?"

GoGo shrugged. "Nothing. Most of us just never thought you'd be into dating, is all. And then you go and date...shit, how many girls did you go out with this year, Hiro?"

Hiro smirked. "Six."

"Six?" She frowned at him. "You did not go out with six girls, Hiro. Don't lie to me."

"Well, I mean...if you count that one little girl who claimed me as her boyfriend for about an hour..."

"That doesn't count."

"Or Margo, who dated me in her mind for the summer..."

"Nope."

"Or that time I got desperate and made a move on Riley."

"That definitely doesn't count."

Hiro laughed. "Yeah, you're right. And I only went out with Penny once, so...two? Violet and Tip. I dated two girls in the past year. Not so unreasonable, right?"

"True." She smirked. "I dated _three_ guys in the past year."

Hiro raised an eyebrow. "Three? I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that this was a competition."

"It is now."

Hiro just snickered, and she smiled, glad that she's cheered him up.

"So wait..." Hiro asked. "Who were they?"

GoGo shrugged. "Eh. They were nothing serious. The first one was...weird, I'd rather not talk about him. Flynn was okay, just a little cocky, and Hiccup..." she paused. "I liked Hiccup, actually. He kinda reminded me of you."

Hiro looked at her in surprise. "He...reminded you of me?"

GoGo smiled. "Yeah. But, he was into someone else, so we had to split." She shrugged, and that was that.

Hiro nodded slowly, and hesitated. "Hey, GoGo...have you ever wanted to date someone...you know, older?"

"Flynn and Hiccup were both older than me."

"Oh. Well, then, did you ever think you'd date someone...a bit younger?"

GoGo paused at this, and raised a skeptical eyebrow at Hiro. "...how young, exactly?"

Hiro gulped, a little scared and unsure of what he was doing exactly, but pressed on. "I dunno...like, hypothetically, maybe my age?"

GoGo narrowed her eyes at him slightly.

Hiro felt his face turn pink. _Crap, she's onto me,_ he thought. _I'm so stupid, why did I ask her this?_

"No, I don't think so," she said at last.

Hiro did his best to hide his disappointment and looked away. Of course, her expected her to say this, but it didn't make him feel any less upset.

"Well, what if you were like...22, and then that guy turns 18?" Hiro felt himself saying. "Would you date him then?"

A pause. Hiro wasn't looking at GoGo, but he was sure she was inspecting him. He wasn't sure why he'd brought this up all of a sudden-maybe it was he effect of the breakup. Maybe he was still being delusional. Or maybe he just wanted to hear the No from GoGo herself. Maybe he was tired of being delusional and wanted her to just crush it once and for all...

"Maybe," came the reply.

Hiro whirled his head around to look at her. "What?"

She shrugged, her expression unreadable. "I said maybe. I can't give you an answer now. If _that guy_ is still interested in three years, he can come back and ask me then."

Hiro turned red, and gaped at her like a fish, saying nothing.

"Anyway, wow, look at the time," GoGo began, sounding like she didn't care about the time at all. "Guess I'd better be going."

"U-uh..." Hiro tried to get some words out as she stood up and grabbed her bag. But nothing came out.

She smirked. "See you later, Romeo."

And with that she was gone, leaving Hiro speechless once again.

* * *

Her words stuck with him until that evening. _Maybe?_ What the hell did that mean?

Hiro sighed and leaned against the windowsill, alone in his room as the cars went by. Replaying the earlier conversation in his head, he wasn't sure whether to feel happy or upset. Three years was a long time, and it was possible that he's finally move on from her by that point. Then again, it was also possible that he wouldn't get over it and he's spend another three years unable to date anyone because he's just so obsessed with GoGo... _ugghhhhh._

Hiro rubbed his temples in confusion and annoyance. "She's killing me..." he murmured. "Nothing's changed at all..."

He leaned his head down on his desk, hoping Tadashi would show up at that exact moment and cheer him up like he usually did. But Tadashi was nowhere to be found right now, so it was just Hiro and his thoughts.

Three years...it seemed like forever. And GoGo knew about his crush. She _knew._ He'd basically told her. But she was smart. She knew it was impossible...for now, anyway.

Frowning at this last thought, Hiro thought back to what Tadashi had told him, back before this whole thing has started. What has he said? Love will tear you apart and destroy you inside? Yeah, that sounded about right. And Hiro would have to face that torture for three whole years, potentially, but what choice did he have? God knows trying to forget about her hadn't worked at all.

And yet...she'd said _maybe._ Try as he might, he couldn't stop the smile that formed when he thought of that. Maybe it would all be worth it? Who knew? All he could really do now was wait.

Hiro didn't like the idea of giving up, but this time it seemed for the best.

 _Go ahead then, GoGo,_ he thought, bitterly and hopefully all at once. _Tear me apart. Destroy me._

He smirked. _I'll be waiting._

 **THE END**

* * *

 **A/N: Hey everyone!**

 **Thanks so much to all of you who stuck around for these past 12 weeks to read this. I really appreciate all the feedback, and I'd love to hear more if you have any!**

 **Now I know you all think I wrote this story just to troll everyone. And my answer to that is...yeah, kinda. But it's honestly more of a study than a story. A study of Hiro as a character, of a bunch of pairings, and of myself to try and express why I like certain ships, and not others. So even if you think it ultimately didn't go anywhere, I hope you still thought it was a good story nonetheless. XD**

 **Thanks again for reading, and I'll see you again soon! (flies away)**


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